A Different Result, A New Beginning
by A Fan1204
Summary: We all know how the battle at the Valley of the End ended. What would happen if Naruto did something different? This action has an unexpected result and Naruto awakens in an unfamiliar land. With no idea of how he got there and no idea on how to return home, what's a young shinobi supposed to do? Chapter one and two edited! Try it again if you didn't like it the first time.
1. Where am I?

A Different Result, A New Beginning

**AN: ok so this is my first shot at a fic so bear with me for the first couple chapters. The main reason I'm even writing this fic is mostly because of a lack of updates from my favorite authors and I guess I always wanted to take a swing at it. So here it goes.**

**Disclaimer- Does anyone that comes here actually think we own anything? I mean if I did I probably wouldn't be on here writing different stories revolving around the same characters. I would be rolling around in my massive piles of money. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, happy now?**

_**Reedited on 7/17/13.**_

* * *

_(Valley of the End)_

The Valley of the End, a place that was forged from the conflict between two of the most powerful shinobi to grace the Elemental Nations since the time of the _Rikudō Sennin_. Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara were gods among men during their time and when they clashed the very landscape itself would change. In honor of their final battle, statues of both Madara and Hashirama were built at the waterfall that was created during the battle, thus the Valley of the End was created. The battle between those two giants went down in history and history has a funny way of repeating itself. Now we see a very similar battle occurring at the same spot.

Uchiha Sasuke, the scion of the near extinct Uchiha clan stood on the base of the partially destroyed statue of Uchiha Madara. He was wearing a dark blue tee-shirt with the insignia of the Uchiha clan on the back. His legs were covered by white shorts and ankle wrappings and shinobi sandals. On his head he had a blue clothed _Konoha_ forehead protector.

A confident smirk was plastered on his face due to the power of the curse mark flowing through him. Due to the curse mark's power Sasuke's physical features had changed dramatically. His skin had morphed into an ashy gray color from his normal white complexion. Resting on the bridge of his nose sat a four pointed black star the stretched across his face. The whites of his eyes had also radically changed, instead of their normal color they were as black as the abyss which caused his _Sharingan_ to glow ominously as the black toma slowly swirled in his eyes in a clockwise motion. The most shocking effect that the curse mark had on Sasuke's appearance came in the form of two large, hand-like wings extruding from his back.

Standing across from Sasuke on the base of the Hashirama statue was Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto was wearing a neon orange tracksuit with blue cloth on the shoulders. His kunai pouch was securely strapped to his right leg and he was wearing blue shinobi sandals. On his head he also had the same style _Konoha_ forehead protector.

Unlike Sasuke, Naruto's visage was submerged in anger; one could even say he was wearing a feral expression. The fight had been long and hard on Naruto and the only reason that he had managed to survive till this point was due to the fact that the _Kyūbi no Yōko_ was sealed within him. Naruto had been drawing on the demonic fox's chakra for the majority of the fight and the strain that the corrosive chakra put on his body was becoming more and more noticeable due to the fatigue that was clear as day on his face.

The vile chakra formed a fox like shroud around its container, long, red fox ears sprouting from the top of his head and a long fiery tail extruding from his lower back. Other than the added chakra appendages, his normal appearance had changed just as drastically as his counter parts, though the changes were completely different. Naruto's normally ocean blue eyes were transformed into a deep crimson with his pupils turning into catlike slits. The birth marks on his face darken considerably, giving off the illusion that they were whiskers. Both his nails and his canines had grown a considerable amount to give Naruto fangs and claws. All of the changes caused by the demon's power made Naruto appear to be a feral beast rather than the shinobi he had always strived to be.

Naruto attempted to lift his now useless left arm and failed to get it to even twitch. He knew that it was a useless effort but it was instinct that drove him to try anyway. Naruto wasn't sure when his arm had become useless; at some point during the fight Sasuke had broken it. The demonic chakra had done its job at the time and mended the broken bone but after prolonged use of the poisonous chakra even Naruto would suffer the consequences of being in direct contact with it.

Watching his opponent closely, Naruto could see the telltale signs of Sasuke's _chidori_ being charged in his hand. Unlike the normal _chidori_, the one in Sasuke's hand had also been corrupted by the curse marks power. The usual blue lightning was now a sickly white color with the outer most bolts being black. In response to the threat, Naruto slowly raised his only usable hand and began forming a _rasengan_. Not surprisingly, his attack was as warped as Sasuke's. The core of the deadly sphere of chakra was a deep purple while a small second layer of demonic chakra formed around the technique, giving off a destructive aura.

"_Sasuke, how did it come to this? All I wanted to do was bring you back to the village and keep my promise to Sakura-chan" _thought Naruto. A slight shift in Sasuke's posture alerted Naruto to the impending attack. Tensing his own muscles, Naruto prepared for what he knew was to come, one final clash between them. Leaping towards his best friend in the same instance that Sasuke leaped, aiming the attack to meet Sasuke's head on.

"_CHIDORI/RASENGAN!"_

Time seemed to slow down as both of the fighter's attacks collided; fighting for dominance over the other in hopes of ending their long engagement.

"_No way… I'm being pushed back; am I really not going to be able to keep my promise to Sakura-chan? No! I can't lose here! Everyone's depending on me to bring you back Sasuke! I'm not letting you go to Orochimaru! I'm bringing you back to Konoha whether you like it or not!"_

Unfortunately for the blond shinobi, will power alone wasn't always enough to overcome someone in battle and even he knew that. Knowing that he would lose if this continued any longer he started drawing upon more of the Kyūbi's chakra in an attempt to overpower Sasuke and end the fight.

During the collision of the two high level techniques, a sphere of chakra had started to form around the two fighters. The two attacks were nearly equal in power and thus the sphere was stabilizing. Naruto's actions destroyed the delicate balance of power between the two sides. The addition of more demonic chakra caused spider web cracks to form on the walls of the sphere until those small cracks turned into larger cracks. The odd mixture of demonic chakra and the pure evil of the curse mark's chakra caused an actual distortion in the dimensional barrier and with one final burst of chakra from Naruto the barrier that separates the dimensions broke open and absorbed the power that was able to cause the break.

* * *

_(Minutes away from the Valley of the End)_

Hatake Kakashi, Jōnin of Konoha and the sensei of team 7; a man known throughout the elemental nations as a feared shinobi for his expertise in the art of _ninjutsu._ He had just returned from a solo mission to find that one of his students had defected from the village while the other had gone after him. It wasn't hard to guess why he had volunteered to be the squad leader of the relief squad that had been sent after the initial retrieval team.

They had already recovered the majority of the retrieval team. Both Akimichi Choji and Hyuga Neji were in critical condition, suffering extensive damage in their successful bid to eliminate the enemy; they would be lucky to make it back to _Konoha_ alive, let alone make it through the night. Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru and Rock Lee were in much better condition when they came across them.

Asking _Suna_ for aid was the right call as it led to the extermination of the rest of the enemy while suffering no further potential casualties. All that was left were Kakashi's two students.

Normally that would be overall good news to the veteran shinobi but he had a foreboding feeling in his stomach over the entire situation. That feeling caused Kakashi to break protocol and broke off from the main squad in favor of covering more ground. He knew if he didn't reach his students soon something horrible was going to happen.

"Their scents end up ahead Kakashi, if I would have to guess, they're at the Valley of the End" said Pakkun, Kakashi's ninja hound.

A frown formed on Kakashi's face as he processed the new information. If their scents ended at the Valley of the End then that was more than likely where they had chosen to have their clash. It meant a couple things. The first thing that it meant was that Kakashi had a chance to reach his students before anything catastrophic happened. Kakashi also found some morbid humor in the choice that the last of the 'loyal' Uchiha made in regards to his departing battle location.

"Then lets pick it up, I want to get there before something bad happens to them", said Kakashi as he pumped more chakra into his legs to dramatically increase his speed. Pakkun merely grunted as he tried to catch up to his master.

* * *

_(Valley of the End)_

As Kakashi stumbled into the valley he bore witness to a level of destruction that even he hadn't expected. One word came into his mind as he looked upon the scene, devastation.

The walls of the valley had large chunks of rock missing from them. One of the cliffs in particular had small fires lingering on the grassy roots that worked their way through the granite. Around the base of said cliff the grass had a much larger fire going that threatened to spread to the rest of the forest if nothing was done about it. The bases for both of the statues also had large pieces of stone missing from them. The worst of the damage however was evident to Kakashi as he approached the waterfall. The back of the waterfall had been completely blown out leaving a massive hole where solid stone should have been.

Walking through the war torn valley Kakashi picked up on some things that he had missed. Random kunai and shuriken were sprinkled throughout the battle field, melted ninja wire fitted to different boulders, blood caked onto the cliff side. The stench of fresh blood could be smelled throughout the area as well.

The worst part of this was that neither of his students were anywhere to be found. He had expected that he would find either both of his students or at the very least Naruto, he certainly didn't expect…this. "What happened here?"

Pakkun heard the whisper of a question but didn't answer; they both knew what had happened here. Smelling the air for any sign of the battle continuing past the valley, the ninja dog's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Kakashi" said Pakkun to get the man's attention. "Their smell ends here; I can't find any traces of either Naruto or Sasuke leaving this valley".

Turning to look at his summon, Kakashi gave the hound a questioning look. "What do you mean you can't find any traces of their scents? They couldn't have just disappeared."

Pakkun grunted at the man's predictable answer. "I don't know what to tell you, all I know for sure is that their trail ends here and I can't track them without having a scent to pick up."

There was a long pause where neither Kakashi nor his ninja hound said anything. What was there to be said? Two of Kakashi's students were missing and there was no way to track them. There wasn't really anything that could be said.

"I'm going back Kakashi, there isn't anything more that I can do. If you find anything that you can use to track them don't hesitate to summon me back" after a couple seconds Pakkun decided to add "I hope you find them Kakashi, I liked those kids." And with that he puffed back to his own world.

Staring up at the gathering clouds, he let the downpour hit him full force. "Yea, me too Pakkun, me too…"

* * *

_(Mountain Peak, Earthland X780)_

On top of the highest peak in Fiore sat Tatsumaki, the oldest dragon in Earthland.

It had been three years since all of the dragons had gone into hiding. A sigh escaped the maw of one of these great beasts as it thought back to what the dragon empire once was. Long before the age of man, The Great Dragon Empire encompassed the entirety of Earthland. No other species could come even close to the power that the dragons had at their disposal. The only thing that could destroy the empire was the empire itself.

That was preciously what happened. It had started as something frivolous, some of the dragons in the empire wanted to try and form a relationship with an up and coming species of Earthland, humans. It was fine at first, only small interactions that didn't lead to anything. That changed the moment that one of the dragons showed the humans how to use their magic, that single decision changed the course of history.

The fools that taught their magic to the humans had caused the downfall of the most powerful civilization to ever grace Earthland. He had told them that if they continued down the path that they had chosen that things would escalate past the point of no return. Even after hearing his words of wisdom they continued with their idiotic plans, consequences be damned.

It wasn't that he was completely against the idea of coinciding with humans; it was just that with any new and seemingly radical idea one had to act slowly and carefully. Rushing things that haven't been fully explored would only lead to conflict and strife.

Once it had been revealed to the entire nation what was occurring, everything went downhill fast. The dragon nation was virtually split on the issue. It went from small arguments in passing to full blown confrontations within their society.

Thinking back on the issue, the old dragon remembered that he himself hadn't done much to keep the peace during that time. He had personally opposed the idea of sharing what they knew with humans so easily. They had earned everything that they had through centuries of study and hard work and they were supposed to give that away at the drop of a hat?

It was also a matter of caution for Tatsumaki. He had studied humans prior to those events and he had seen time and time again that if humans gain any kind of advantage that they would abuse that advantage in any way they could. It wasn't that humans were inherently evil; it was just instinct to do what one can to get ahead and survive. The problem with humans was that they rarely had the foresight to think about what consequences their actions would have in the future.

Tatsumaki saw what would eventually happen. Humans would abuse the dragon's magic and would eventually become the most feared race on the planet. They were still too young as a race to have such power, still his warnings went unheard and dragons continued to give away their power.

At first he thought that he may have been mistaken about the humans. In a way he was, it wasn't the humans that had started the conflict. The Dragon King had been silent during the beginning stages of the issue. He had expected that his fellow dragons would come to their senses and finally end this ridiculous endeavor. To his initial shock and outrage they hadn't stopped, if anything the movement had grown and more dragons were teaching their magic to humans.

It didn't take long for the Dragon King to pronounce the pro-human dragons' traitors and sentence them all to death.

That decision was the final nail in the coffin between the two sides. All-out war had broken across the globe, leaving almost none untouched by the carnage. The Dragon King had underestimated just how many dragons were on the pro-human side and what was meant to be a quick execution had turned into a long and bloody civil war. Never in their long history had so many dragons died, the body count only increasing as the humans joined the fray on the side of their dragon masters.

At first the humans only played a small role in the war, mostly giving support to dragons that requested it. The few dragon magic wielding mages wouldn't dare attack a dragon by themselves, not until Acnologia.

Acnologia was more akin to a demon than an actual human. He came from nowhere and no one knew who his master was. All that was known about him was that he held a very strange type of dragon magic and he used it mercilessly. He crushed the first dragon that he faced in the war and was celebrated as the 'DragonSlayer' by the humans of Earthland. It wasn't long after that when the other dragon taught mages began fighting dragons on their own and even overcoming them, soon the magic became known as Dragon Slaying magic.

As the war waged on Acnologia continued his onslaught on the anti-human faction, with every kill he increased his already sizable power. Then the unthinkable happened, Acnologia turned on the dragons he had been fighting alongside for years. Friend or foe, it didn't matter to the DragonSlayer. As long as you had dragon blood flowing through your veins you were a target.

The war continued for years after Acnologia's betrayal. Slowly but surely, with the aid of the humans the pro-human faction continued to chip away at the once proud empire. The Dragon King soon realized just how dire and near impossible the situation had become and decided that if they were going to lose, they would do it in the grandest scale imaginable.

The plan was simple really; the non-human faction would launch a full scale invasion of where the pro-human dragons had taken up residence, namely the Byzantine kingdom. The reason why the Byzantine Empire was the current home to the pro-human dragons was because the majority of their dragon slayers called it home.

The day of the invasion went down as the bloodiest day in history. The reason for that wasn't because one side over powered the other, it wasn't because of some grand strategy that completely outclassed the enemy, it wasn't even because of some dumb luck by one side. The reason why it became the bloodiest day in history was because of two people, Acnologia and Zeref.

No one knows how or why those two joined forces but the effects were devastating. The two of them destroyed both sides mercilessly. They utilized the fact that the two larger factions were focusing on each other and eliminated any that strayed from the main forces. At some point during the battle things took a turn for the worse. Acnologia had somehow gained the ability to turn himself into a true dragon. Again, how he managed such a feat was a mystery to this day but it's suspected that Zeref's dark magic was the catalyst for the sudden transformation.

After the transformation the battle's momentum had shifted permanently. Zeref had up and disappeared but that was the least of everyone's worries. With Acnologia's new found power he swept through both factions with a zealous fervor. Eventually the Dragon King himself rose to fight the human turned dragon. In the end Acnologia had killed the old king and had declared himself the new Dragon King. His first act as King was to set an example for all those who would oppose him by burning the entire Byzantine Empire to the ground.

In the course of a single day two of the most powerful empires in the world had vanished and all that was left of a powerful race had been reduced to a handful of dragons.

In the wake of the war the remaining dragons had dispersed to live a life of solitude, disgusted and disheartened by what had happened. They all left to the far corners of the globe, choosing areas that held little to no intelligent life. The age of dragons had come to a violent close and the true age of man would rise from the ashes.

Tatsumaki snorted at the absurdity of it all, dragons losing out to humans in a prolonged conflict. It was inconceivable in every way possible, but it happened. Tatsumaki would admit that humans had a certain tenacity about them that set them apart from other races but he was too old to worry about such things, he wasn't like his brethren.

Centuries passed after the destruction of the Great Dragon Empire and time slowly began to heal the wounds of the land and those that remained after the war. The land healed and a new nation rose from the ashes of old.

The remaining dragons had grown bored in their isolation and had reemerged into the world, exploring what it had to offer. Soon enough most of the dragons had adopted a child. Tatsumaki was aware of their actions but unlike during the time of the pro-human dragons he didn't voice any concerns, there was no reason to. They were being raised in a different time. There were no battles to be fought, no wars to be won. There wasn't any external pressure being applied to them. It was only the dragon parent and child, the way it should've been.

The family bond provided this new generations of dragon slayers with a sense of belonging and understanding that the previous generation lacked. It was the ideal way for humans and dragons to coexist. To have true understanding between races you had to have peace so your mind was clear of distractions. History had proven that this type of understanding couldn't be achieved during strained times. The conflicts that had once risen would not come to pass a second time.

Both dragons and humans a like fear what they do not understand. Fear leads to hate, hate leads to anger and aggression. It made perfect sense that with understanding would come a long lasting peace. These new humans didn't know anything other than peace; it was true what they said, those that have never known peace have different values from those that have never known war.

Perhaps he should've taken on a student to pass on his knowledge and magic. The thought was entertaining but in the end useless. That ship had sailed years ago when Acnologia had decided to drive all of the remaining dragons into hiding for whatever reason. The order hadn't had a real impact on him at the time but he did regret the fact that all of his knowledge would die with him.

Near a millennia of knowledge and experience, soon to be gone forever. Tatsumaki was indeed an old dragon, older than any of the others, Acnologia included. Even with his age he had kept his mind sharp, his knowledge ever expanding. He was one of the few remaining dragons that could clearly remember the Great Dragon Empire and the horrors of the civil war that brought the nation crashing down.

The other remaining dragons had been mere hatchlings during the conflict as far as the old dragon was concerned. Because of that they weren't nearly as effected as he was by the bloody war. Tatsumaki was not as lucky, during that time he was entering his prime; while still young in perspective to the other dragons Tatsumaki's mind had already made him into a respected individual in their society.

He had warned his fellow dragons against teaching their magic to the humans and had been flatly ignored. He had given his council to the Dragon King when the order came out for the heads of the pro-human dragons. He explained how the conflict would collapse their great nation but again he was ignored.

Angered by being ignored by his compatriots on both sides Tatsumaki had turned a blind eye to the conflict. Both sides had tried to recruit him throughout the war but every time he stayed firm in his beliefs and refused to fight a war that would leave only victims.

With his stone cold front he had observed the war, watched as his dear friends fought and killed each other as they died for their beliefs. The scars of the war had changed the dragon. From an active and engaging individual came a cold, cynical dragon that observed the world with a detached interest. Everything became about watching the world go round and making undeniable truths known; such was the job of a scholar. It was all he had after the conflict.

His long years of isolation and study had borne many fruits but the most important one was his invention of the magic that eventually became known as _Archive._ It became undeniably useful for anyone that had wanted to enhance their knowledge.

Only now in his old age had Tatsumaki truly regretted some of his actions, mostly his choice of isolation. There was no point in wallowing in the past however; if he did he would only depress himself.

A powerful, strange wind pulled Tatsumaki out of his self-reflection. What made it odd was the fact that he didn't have any control of it. The mountain that he had called home for over 300 years was completely surrounded in his own wind which was completely dominated by his will; to have something be able to break that control was…interesting to the old dragon. Flapping his mighty wings, he propelled himself through the air to confront whatever had wandered into his territory.

* * *

_(Mountain Top)_

The prospect of fighting a powerful enemy after so many years of inactivity excited Tatsumaki more than anything else. Many would feel frightened or scared about such an encounter but for the old reptile he was anything but. He had accepted that he would die a long time ago so the fear of death no longer resided within him. Now all that was left was a desire to fill the void of what had become a mundane life.

Landing in the area that had caused the disturbance, Tatsumaki slowly walked his way up to a massive crater that had appeared on the snow covered peak. The object inside of the deep crevice was certainly not what he was expecting.

It wasn't a powerful mage or a menacing creature. Nor was it a fellow dragon seeking him out. Instead of those things was a relatively small yet powerful vortex, no larger than an average man.

What intrigued Tatsumaki was the fact that there didn't seem to be any catalyst that was causing such a fierce phenomenon. The very air around the vortex was distorted due to the power rolling off of it; it reminded Tatsumaki of a black hole absorbing all of the light around it in the way it looked.

He had seen this before; Anima's from Edolas had occasionally popped into existence in much the same way over the years. The difference between this vortex and those Anima's was that he had never felt such strength come from an Anima before.

The power was also foreign to the dragon. It was close to the magic of Earthland and Edolas but different all the same; denser, heavier, _stronger_ than the Eternano in the air.

The vortex continued to grow as it gave off more and more power, still the dragon didn't shy away from the anomaly. Whatever was causing this distortion was strong indeed but so was Tatsumaki. It wasn't arrogance that caused the dragon to stay, he had lived for over half a century and between his own raw power and experience, he didn't consider himself weak.

The vortex appeared to reach its critical mass and became more erratic and unstable. Everything around the vortex was then drawn into the swirling mass until a large explosion rung out throughout the mountains, dust and rock spraying everywhere in the explosions after math.

Approaching ground zero, Tatsumaki peered into the now much larger crater to see what was left. Inside of the dust and stone was a small human child, no older than 14 if the dragon would have to guess. He appeared to be heavily wounded with his torn clothes and the massive amount of blood that was flowing from his body.

Staring at the unconscious boy with a calculative gaze, the old dragon estimated that the boy would bleed out and succumb to his injuries within the hour. He wasn't beyond saving but Tatsumaki had to make a decision quickly if he were to save the child's life

Did he rescue the boy and try to garner information from him or did he leave him to die? Tatsumaki was positive that if he left him alone he would die, if not to his injuries than to the harsh environment of the mountain, it didn't matter which to him.

While the information that Tatsumaki could gain from the boy was tempting, he couldn't shake the feelings that he felt from the vortex right before it exploded. Anger, hate, sorrow, an unquenchable lust for power and something even darker, something truly evil. It was the telltale sign of a demon and a powerful one at that. Letting something like that live would be a lapse in judgment that may cost many their lives.

Even if the boy was a powerful demon, Tatsumaki was confident enough in his strength that he was sure he could handle the beast. What truly gave pause to the elder dragon was something that even he hadn't realized would be a problem, the boy was human.

Tatsumaki knew in his mind that the blond hadn't done anything wrong to him but even so he couldn't find the strength to move from his spot. Perhaps in his long isolation he had truly believed he had gotten over his scars of war, watching humans use their dragon master's magic to kill his friends; it wasn't something that one could just forget. Then to see those same humans bathe in the blood of his fallen brothers to increase their own power, that left a certain kind of scar that father time just couldn't heal.

As he struggled with his own demons he watched as the boy's condition continued to deteriorate. He wouldn't last within the next half hour let alone his earlier projections. Looking at the blond's whiskered face the mighty dragon let out a heavy sigh as he finally made up his mind.

* * *

_(Tatsumaki's Cave)_

Pain, never in his life had he felt such pain. It felt as if every muscle in his body had been shredded. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was chasing Sasuke to the Valley of the End and then…

"SASUKE!" yelled the blond, pain completely forgotten as his mind caught up to what happened right before he last clash with his best friend.

What happened? The last thing he remembered was calling on more of the _Kyūbi's _chakra and then everything went black. Had he won? Where was Sasuke? A better question to ask was where the hell was he?

Taking a good look around the large room he was in he noticed some very unsettling things. The most prominent was the fact that he wasn't in the familiar walls of _Konoha's_ hospital. In fact he wasn't in any kind of room at all. From what he could see it appeared to be a rather large cave that was inhabited by a rather large predator. The reason being for that assumption was the rather large bones of what Naruto assumed were the beast's prey.

Continuing to scan the room Naruto noticed some other things that gave him pause. While the cave had the initial smell and appearance of an animal's den he could see signs of someone living there. Candles had been placed throughout the cave to give off a faint light, just enough to maneuver through the room. He also saw that the walls of the cave were lined with hundreds of books of all different shapes and sizes. What kind of animal reads?

Somehow in Naruto's attempt to analyze the room he had missed the most important piece to the puzzle, a massive dragon that had been drilling a hole through the young shinobi's head for the last 10 minutes.

Tatsumaki didn't know what to make of the boy in front of him. At first he seemed normal enough, looking around the room, attempting to get heads or tails of where he was and what had happened. Scrutinizing the boy further gave way to a completely different discovery for the reptile. There was more to what the boy was doing than meets the eye. He was carefully cataloging everything in the room, taking note of any oddities and anything that could be of use.

In short, the boy was looking at the area as if it might turn into a battlefield and what was his best option to escape. He didn't know if the boy was doing it on purpose or out of habit, regardless it gave the dragon pause. A normal child wouldn't exhibit such behavior, a normal child would probably be frightened at the very least and this boy had no fear in his eyes.

Tatsumaki had seen this type of behavior in human children before though not since the Great Dragon Civil War. Both children and adults alike would wake up in a similar fashion during the prolonged conflict and it weighed heavily on their psyche as a result. Clearly this child was a soldier of some kind.

It saddened the old dragon to see one so young be accustomed to such a life style. While he still held his dislike for humans as a whole he could never bring himself to hate the children of any race, they were innocent after all. Why couldn't he have found a child that wasn't indoctrinated into the art of combat and killing?

A low groan escaped Tatsumaki's lips which alerted the young blond to the presence of the gargantuan beast.

Hearing a rumbling sound come from his left Naruto turned his head and just blinked at what was before him. He continued to stare at it as he took in all of the aspects of the _thing_ that was watching him.

It was a massive creature on par with the _Kyūbi_. To Naruto it looked like a giant lizard with wings. It was covered head to toe in dark tan scales that looked like plates of armor more than anything else. The only deviation in the color of the scales came from the slightly lighter scales on his stomach which looked just had thick as the ones on its back.

The wings themselves were the same color as the rest of its body and even though they were folded in Naruto could tell that once they reached their full wingspan that it would be the biggest wingspan he had ever seen, to be fair if this thing ever had a chance at flying it would need every inch that its wings provided.

That was a particularly scary thought for Naruto to imagine that this thing could actually fly. The tips of the wings looked like the end of spears with the way the creatures bones stuck through the end and came to a rather sharp point.

The top of the beast's head had dual horns coming out the back of it in a twisting fashion and just rested there. They didn't seem to have any combat purpose but they still looked like they could skewer just about anything. To finish off the intimidating imagine were a mouth full of serrated teeth and long claws and long spikes that ran down the spine and to the end of the monsters tail.

Naruto simply rubbed his eyes and looked back at the creature in front of him but it was still there. Repeating the process several times he found that the results wouldn't change and he continued to stare at a creature that shouldn't even be alive. Naturally he did what most people would do when meeting a dragon for the first time.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he cried whilst trying to get up and run away from the monster. Unfortunately for the blond, his body wasn't anywhere near recovered enough to perform such an action and thus he fell face forward into the hard, unforgiving floor.

"That hurt…" grumbled Naruto and he pulled himself off of the cold floor. He heard what he assumed was a snort of laughter coming from the strange creature. So this thing thought that was funny huh? Naruto so wasn't in the mood to be laughed at by some overgrown lizard and was about to lay into it before he felt himself being lifted off of the ground and placed gently on the makeshift bed he was previously.

Naruto just stared at the creature for a while after that. Shouldn't something with such an obvious arsenal of carnivorous weapons be tearing him apart right now? Staring at the beast again Naruto noticed some things he had missed in his initial panic.

It was old, incredibly so. While at first glance the scales on its body looked unbreakable and strong, the creatures face portrayed its true age. The scales were sagging excessively and the sadden expression that he could see in its eyes reminded him of _Sandaime's_ eyes, eyes full of regret and a resigned fate.

The way that this thing was looking at him made him feel uncomfortable. If it looked hungry or angry or anything that would make it seem hostile he would understand. But that was the thing, it didn't look hungry, it wasn't angry or anything of the sort. The look he was receiving was interested, dare he say analytical? It was like it was trying to see just what kind of person Naruto really was.

There was no way that this thing was doing that though…right? It was a giant lizard for crying out loud! But if it truly was a mindless beast then why hadn't it just attacked him yet? Naruto had seen some rather strange things in his admittedly short life so perhaps this thing having an interest in him wasn't so farfetched?

"Ummm, hi?" he said lamely, trying to start a conversation with the beast even though to him it just seemed stupid. Everything since he woke up just seemed really weird so maybe this thing could talk too? Why the hell not?

Tatsumaki frowned slightly at hearing the blond child speak. The tongue he spoke in was completely foreign to him and he knew every language that his world and the others he knew of had to offer. What kind of force was able to tear a hole in the dimensional walls that separated this child's world and Earthland?

Any dimension that was close to Earthland had an already weakened wall due to the two dimensions continuously colliding together. The farther away a dimension was, the stronger the wall that separates the worlds is.

A better way to explain it is that all of the dimensions in the universe are connected via a series of 'tubes' that form a massive web. Each dimension has an infinite number of 'tubes' or passage ways that connects to all of the other dimensions and at the end of each of these passages is a wall or barrier that keeps the two worlds separate.

Depending on the distance between the two barriers, the walls are either unstable, like the ones between Earthland and Edolas or they're near impenetrable like the one that connects Earthland and this boy's realm.

Whatever sent this boy here was more powerful than Tatsumaki had ever been if it could open this particular gate. Regardless of where he came from and what sent him here, the language barrier needed to be fixed before anything could continue.

With that thought in mind Tatsumaki raised one of his massive claws and lightly touched the tip of it to the child's forehead.

* * *

_(Naruto's Mindscape)_

"_How did I end up here?_" was the resounding thought that entered the blond's head as he took in his new surroundings. One moment he was in a cave with a giant lizard and the next he was in front of the _Kyūbi_'s cage. He had thought that it was going to try and eat him when he saw its claw coming for him, now he didn't know what to think.

**"Over here child."**

The deep voice resonated through the room and froze Naruto in his tracks. There was only one other voice in his head and that certainly wasn't the voice of the _Kyūbi_. The voice was also coming from behind him, the exact opposite direction of the seal.

Turning around slowly Naruto came face to face with the same creature he had seen moments ago. Eye's widening comically, Naruto took a few steps back in surprise at seeing the beast in his mindscape. How the hell had this thing even gotten into his head!? How was that even possible? Also Naruto distinctly heard it talk, truth be told that didn't surprise him as much as it should have, dealing with talking toads and foxes for most of his ninja career would have that effect on him.

Smirking down at the panicking human Tatsumaki looked around at the kid's mindscape; certainly wasn't what he was expecting. **"You are an interesting young human; your language is very different than mine."**

Still shaken about having someone else enter his mind, Naruto ventured a question while he was on 'talking' terms with the monster in front of him. "How are you talking to me if our languages are so different? How are you even in my head for that matter!?"

**"That would be one of the magic's that I invented; it's called Archive. While the basic uses of it is to store information and rely it to others, I have advanced it to a much farther level. I'm able to enter someone else's mind and either take any information I want or imprint information into their mind."**

"Oi, that's bullshit, you just can't go into someone else's head and take what you want. That's not right!"

While Tatsumaki admired the lads moral convictions he was less than amused when he had begun lecturing him on the moral dilemmas of his actions.** "Watch your mouth human, I am well aware of the moral implications of my own magic. I'm a scholar among my kind and I believe in a fair exchange of knowledge. Due to the language barrier I decided that I would take your language and in return I would imprint you with the native language of Earthland. An equivalent exchange if you would."**

"Oh…" It came out as barely a whisper but what was he really going to say? Whatever this thing was, it was right. There would be no way that they could even be talking if he hadn't done what he did and it's not like he didn't get anything out of it either. Still though, there were a lot of reasons that Naruto didn't want other people looking around in his head, a prime example would be the cage behind him. "Hey, what else did you take from my head?"

Taking offense to the accusing tone that the boy was using Tatsumaki stood up tall and spread his wings in an opposing manner.** "Nothing. Like I said, I am a scholar, not a thief. I do not believe in just taking knowledge. I prefer learning it like I did long before I invented Archive. Now I believe introductions are in order, I am Tatsumaki, The Wind Dragon."**

Looking at the intimidating dragon in front of him Naruto managed a not so strong response to the powerful introduction Tatsumaki gave. "Ummm, hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage! Nice to meet ya"

Tatsumaki gave the blond a funny look before smiling at him.** "You're an interesting little human aren't you? I have a few questions for you and if you would be willing to answer them I would answer any questions that I'm sure you have."**

Thinking about it for a moment Naruto decided that would probably be for the best, he had no idea what had happened and maybe this dragon or whatever it was, could shed some light on the situation. "Yea, that sounds good"

Not wasting any time, Tatsumaki asked one thing that had been bothering him since Naruto had entered this world.** "How did you arrive in this world?"**

Now that wasn't an easy question, mainly because even Naruto didn't know that answer. "I don't know all I remember was being in a fight and then our techniques clashed and there was a bright light and bam, I wake up to you staring at me."

The answer didn't give him any clarity but it did confirm what he had originally thought. There was no way that this child by himself could open a rift between their two worlds, clashing against another power source however could potentially have the power needed to put it in the realm of possibility.

"Ok my turn, Where am I?"

**"You are in Earthland, a different dimension than the one you come from."**

Naruto looked at the dragon with an owlish look before the words fully registered in his mind. "A different dimension? What do you mean a different dimension!?"

**"It's exactly as I said, you're in another dimension. My hypothesis is that when your opponents and your technique collided, the power that you two emitted was enough to cause a rift in the dimensional barriers and you were brought here as a result. Now I believe you owe me two answers. Why were you fighting this person that ended up sending you here?"**

"He was trying to abandon the village, he was making a mistake and he wouldn't listen to reason so I had to beat some sense into him, he's my best friend and I couldn't let him ruin his life."

**"From what you had on you and from what you told me I take it that you and your friend belong to a type of military organization." **It was spoken as a statement, not a question. While he had seen this kind of thing in the past he didn't believe in raising child soldiers. Teaching children magic and how to defend themselves was fine but incorporating them into the military at such a young age would mean that they would have to start training before they were 10 years old. That left a sour taste in his mouth; children of any species were innocent while they were young.** "How old are you Naruto?"**

"I'm 14." _"This dragon is asking a lot of personal questions. I guess he's trying to get more information about me but I thought he would try to ask more about information from where I'm from, he seems more like the kind of guy to want to know more about the world and science stuff then to actually get to know someone." _"I think it's my turn now. Was there anyone else where you found me?"

**"No, I saw you come through the rift that connected our worlds and you were the only one that came through here."**

"I see… you seem to know an awful lot about this dimension stuff, do you know a way to send me home?" he asked in a hopeful manner.

**"While I do know of a way that we could use to send you home, I do not have the power necessary to cause a rift in the barrier that connects our worlds. As far as I know there isn't any other way to cross dimensions."**

"So you're saying that if I can get strong enough you could tell me how I can get home?" That's something he could work with. He needed to get stronger anyway so if getting more power was all he needed to do to get home then it was a win-win situation.

**"Not quite, the world you came from is in a dimension that is very distant from our world and thus I've never been able to catalog it with my Archive magic. There are an infinite number of dimensions and only the ones closest to Earthland have a weak enough wall that I've been able to break and explore. Even if you managed to obtain enough power to break down some of the barriers that I cannot, you will have no way of knowing which one will take you home, you could easily become lost between the worlds and you would never find your way home."**

"But what about the rift that Sasuke and I caused? Couldn't you look for dimensions that had recent rifts in them or something like that?" Naruto didn't quite understand this whole dimension talk but he would be damned if he just gave up on trying to get home, he had promises to keep damn it!

**"Again no, the barriers repair themselves after being damaged as a way to prevent worlds from colliding with one another. The hole that you caused has already sealed itself up by now. That's not to say that you couldn't find your way home. I'm an old dragon, I've been around for over 500 years and I've seen what you humans are capable of producing over the centuries. Your race is remarkable when it comes to innovating things to meet your needs. I've been in seclusion for a few years and the potential for your race is staggering. Who knows, maybe someone out there has already invented something that may be of aid to you. Now I still have a few questions for you and I believe it was my turn quite a while ago. The first question is why do you need to get back so badly?"**

Naruto had the decency to blush at that, he kind of went overboard when he was trying to find a way home. At first he was just going to shout out an answer like he just had to get back but he thought about it, why did he really need to get back? "I… I have promises to keep, I can't keep them if I'm stuck here, people are counting on me and I can't abandon them! I need to get back, no matter what!"

That answer surprised the old dragon. He was expecting something silly or frivolous. Usually children don't take much heed in promises and the importance of keeping ones word.** "Why does that matter? Promises get broken every day, why are these promises so important to you?"**

"Promises do matter, no matter what; I'll keep my promises, even if it kills me! I never go back on my word, that's my way of the ninja!"

**"**_**Such passion."**_In all of Tatsumaki's years he had never seen anyone, human or otherwise, be so passionate in their beliefs. This child seemed full of surprises. A small smile formed on the seasoned dragon's lips as a thought entered his head. **"What are you going to do now? You know I cannot provide you with a way home, are you going to go out and search for one?"**

"Of course I will…" and do what? He knew nothing of this world, the countries, the layout of the land and oceans. Culture, laws, military strengths, he knew absolutely nothing of this world other than a language that had been put in his head.

Tatsumaki could see the gears turning inside the blond's head. Good, he wasn't stupid; he knew that he needed information if he wanted a snow ball's chance in hell of making it home.

Naruto was conflicted, he wanted to head out right away and look for a way home but even he knew that going into a situation like this with absolutely no information was suicide. Not only that, but he knew he wasn't as strong as he thought he was. His battle with Kimimaro and then Sasuke showed him that. If it wasn't for the _Kyūbi, _he would've been dead multiple times in his fight against Sasuke alone. He needed to get stronger before he headed out and he certainly needed more information before he left.

"I… Will you teach me? I don't know anything about this world and I'm going to need to know everything that I can if I want to make it home. I'm also too weak; I know that as I am now I'm not nearly strong enough. If I want to keep my promises and accomplish my goals then I'm going to need to get much stronger. So please teach me!" Admitting such things to someone he had just met hurt his pride immensely but he needed these things, pride be damned!

This time a full grin adorned the dragon's face. This child was very interesting, and to think, he was considering letting him die a few hours ago. Yes, this child would do, he had found his Dragon Slayer.

**"Answer this last question and I will teach you more than you ever imagined; what does the cage behind you hold?"** The cage had been bothering him for a while now. He could sense a dark presence behind those bars. Something with that much hate shouldn't be inside of anyone's mind, especially a child that seemed so innocent in comparison.

At the mention of the cage Naruto began sweating bullets. Well fuck, he was hoping that he could hold off on the explanation of the fox for a little bit. Apparently that was not an option. "Well you see, a-

A low growl cut off the shinobi and the large visage of the demon fox came into the light for both Tatsumaki and Naruto to see.** "I can speak for myself human, I am the **_**Kyūbi no Yōko**_**. I was sealed inside of this fool by that accursed Yondaime Hokage. We've been stuck together since the day he was born. Why don't you do me a favor and remove that seal that's on the cage and I'll show you my gratitude, I'm sure I know many things that would interest someone like you."**

Tatsumaki regarded the demon as he would anything else in this world, with an apathetic look. He could feel the malicious power rolling off of it and it sent a shiver down his spine. He doubted that in his old age that he could fight this monster.

While the offer of being taught something by such a powerful demon did have some appeal to it, the moral consequences of it far outweighed his personal gain. **"Do you honestly believe I would release something that emits such a foul presence? I do not take kindly to having been thought of as a fool. I was simply curious as to what you were nothing more."**

Turning away from the demon, Tatsumaki regarded Naruto with an even look. **"Now Naruto, are you prepared to become my Dragon Slayer?"**

With a smile that went from ear to ear he replied, "I'm more than ready, master."

* * *

**AN:** so here it is the first chapter of hopefully many. This idea had been going around in my head for near a month now and I really wanted to try and take a swing at this writing thing.

A big shout out to Lanky Nathan for giving me some encouraging words to actually sit down and write this thing. I strongly recommend reading his story of a lost Shinobi. It's a great crossover between Naruto and Fairy Tail and if you liked this opening chapter then I know you'll like his work because he's way better than me in my personal opinion. That's mostly because I have like 0 confidence in my writing skill as of right now but he's still pretty good by anyone's standards.

So you know the drill, read, review, follow, that kind of thing. Any constructive criticism, idea's, corrections that you want to mention be my guest, I'm always open to those kinds of things. If you want to flame me and my story then I guess do what you want, I'm not your mom, I've been around the internet long enough to know that trolls will exist no matter what you do. I can take it (I hope). Also I need a beta as of right now so that options out there if anyone wants it

That's it for now, I'll hopefully have chapter 2 up within the next 2 weeks but don't hold me to that because finals are literally in the next 3 weeks and I don't know how much writing time I'll be getting.

_Side note, this chapter was re-edited as of July 17__th__ 2013. The other chapters are still being worked on, after chapter three though there shouldn't be any problems._


	2. Life Lessons

**AN: so here we go with a second installment of A Different Result, A New Beginning. I was surprised with the amount of feedback I got on the first day, while not many of you reviewed, I was still impressed with all of the alerts I got about people following/favoriting (yea I know that's not a word, I don't care, wanna fight about it?) the story. So I thank everyone that checked out my story and decided to stick around for more.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing nor will I ever own anything other than my OC's like Tatsumaki and the others that I will be introducing throughout the story.**

**Reedited on 7/27/13**

* * *

_(Earthland X780)_

Tatsumaki was amazed at how Naruto could absorb knowledge. He couldn't have asked for a better Dragon Slayer to pass on what he knew.

Before he started teaching Naruto any magic, he felt that it was necessary to teach him the history of Earthland to give him a better understanding of the world he now resided in. He didn't go any farther back then the beginning of the Great Dragon Empire because in his honest opinion, the time before the empire was one of brutes and savages.

The founding of the empire began shortly after the first dragon had unlocked the secret of absorbing Eternano from the air into his body. The body naturally produced enough Eternano for one to survive and function but for those that wished to use magic, they needed to be able to absorb Eternano from the atmosphere to increase their own reserves.

The reason why only 10% of the human population could use magic was because most of the human's Eternano containers were damaged at birth and are unable to draw in any extra magic. Dragons never had this biological flaw.

The first dragon began teaching other dragons how to use magic and various branches of magic started forming through experimentation. While it's true that anyone could learn any kind of magic with proper instruction, certain people were geared towards certain kinds of magic.

That held true even more so for dragons. Many of the dragons that learned how to use magic created Elemental magic due to dragons naturally strong bond with nature. Amongst all of the elemental magic that was created, fire seemed to be the primary element that dragons developed. This common trait among dragons soon turned into a human myth that all dragons could breathe fire.

While nearly 60% of the dragon population had a natural affinity for fire, the other forms of magic didn't have anywhere near the same level of conformity. All sorts of elements and sub elements formed during the experimentation stage of the dragons. Lightning, Earth, Water, Wind, Metal, Ice, Lava, and Sky were all types of elemental magic that was created during that time; though some of the most feared magic was created by the dragons that didn't just try to form magic from their natural affinity.

These dragons mixed their natural affinity with their own knowledge of the world to form very powerful types of magic. There were four main branches of these dangerous magic's, Time, Dimensional, Memory and Chaos. The dragons that developed these types of magic found that they had a massive advantage in battle due to the fact that their magic didn't really conform to any one element and thus the attacks of the elemental dragons weren't nearly as effective as their own magic was on them.

While these four types of magic were powerful, they weren't the most powerful forms of magic that the dragons invented. Over these forms of magic was what became known as Holy Dragon Magic. Light and Darkness, one could not exist without the other. The dragons understood this and didn't consider the darkness to be evil nor did they consider that the light was purely good, both had their strengths and weaknesses and their creators were fallible like any other dragon.

The last form of magic that was invented during this time enabled its creator to unite all of the dragons to form what became known as The Great Dragon Empire, where he announced himself to be the first Dragon King.

He created what became known as Supreme Dragon magic. No dragon could possibly compete with him because he was able to take parts of all the other forms of dragon magic and combine them into one. Each form of dragon magic was susceptible to another form and thus no one could truly get an advantage over one another.

Supreme Dragon magic had no known weakness. It took all of the strengths of the other dragon's magic and yet none of their weaknesses. He could also absorb all other forms of magic and any of the elements to sustain and refuel himself, which gave him a never ending source of power.

After the establishment of his dominance over the other dragons, he gathered them together to form a great empire that easily over took all of Earthland. The Empire quickly became something that the world had never seen nor will probably ever see for at least 1000 years.

To ensure that the empire would pass the test of time, the Dragon King has assigned each of the different dragon type's specific roles within the empire that matched best with their strengths.

Because the fire dragons were the most abundant, they made up the majority of the standing army, which was why the myth about all dragons being able to breathe fire came into existence since most confrontations with dragons were of the fire variety.

Lightning dragons were given the task to power the empire so that all could enjoy the uses of electricity. It was another myth among men that dragons were mindless beasts that dwelled in caves and destroyed all those that would dare climb on their mountain. This couldn't have been farther from the truth.

Earthland was riddled with high mountain ranges that provided the dragons with an unusual advantage over the other species. Since very few creatures could reach such heights at the time, let alone survive there, the tops of the mountains became the ideal spot to build a civilization.

The dragons utilized their powerful magic to build sprawling cities across the globe. Due to the larger mountains, some of the cities even stretched above the clouds themselves.

The myth about them being cave dwelling creatures was actually a carefully engineered plan by the Dragon King. He had the military set up multiple defensive caves near the bases of mountains in which a city stood at its peak. Whenever anyone, human or otherwise came to far up the mountain a dragon would go and protect it's 'territory' and drive off or kill the offender.

After it became common knowledge that a dragon had taken up a roast on a mountain very few dared to even settle near it, let alone explore it.

Thus the dragons built the most powerful civilization in the world and no one even knew it existed.

Because of the fact that the empire didn't have any enemies to speak of, they were able to put all of their resources into other things, such as the arts and science.

With the use of their reinforced steel, the Metal dragons were able to undertake massive engineering projects that allowed them to build spiraling cities on the mountain tops.

In a combined effort, the Water and Earth dragons produced all of the agricultural needs of the empire. Even though dragons primarily hunted for their food, once the empire had grown too large a greatly increased demand for food caused the erupt change in the diets of many dragons.

The dragons of ice and lava had a very unique task. The Dragon King was incredibly paranoid when it came to anything discovering his empire and as such took further precautions to ensure the secrecy of their major cities. Because of that, the Lava and Ice dragons had the task of making the mountains containing the more populated cities inhabitable after a certain altitude. Be it freezing conditions or random downfall of molten rock, both effectively stopped any living thing to come near the mountains.

Sky dragons were an oddity among the dragon race. Instead of focusing on the destructive force that their magic was capable of they decided to work on the art of healing. Before the establishment of the empire, dragons would have confrontations over territories and it soon became common practice to befriend a Sky dragon to help guard the territory.

It was beneficial agreement for both dragons. The Sky dragon was guaranteed a home to stay and was shielded from the direct fighting while at the same time the dragon offering their territory would have the benefit of being healed during conflicts as well as having the aid of the Sky dragons support magic.

Due to this practice, when the time came for roles to be distributed among the dragons it wasn't hard to predict that the Sky dragons were selected to be the healers of the great nation.

The other job that the Sky dragons held was a joint effort with the Wind dragons to control the weather around their numerous cities to ensure the easiest possibility for sustainability.

Other than aiding the Sky dragons with maintaining the weather they were designated as the keepers of knowledge. Many within the kingdom didn't understand why the Wind dragons were assigned such a job when it would make more sense to have either the dragons of Time or Memory to hold such a position.

Those that thought that way had a valid point and some of those dragons did just that but the Wind dragons knew something that the others didn't. The air in the world had always been there, since the creation of the planet. The air that those dragons were breathing was the very same air that the first creatures of the world breathed thousands of years ago.

To the Wind dragons, the air itself was a treasure trove of information on anything that dealt with the world. Nothing was out of their grasp when it came to learning the secrets of the world if they could master their magic to a certain degree and thus they were unparalleled in gathering and maintaining knowledge.

Then there were the more dominant if not lesser in number dragons. Those of Time, Dimension, Memory and Chaos felt that they should serve a higher purpose within the kingdom instead of doing a specialized task. During the Great Warring Days they had completely outclassed the other dragons and in their arrogance they had become withdrawn from the majority of their brethren.

The Dragon King had fully agreed with them and decided to make all those that fell into that category advisors within the Royal Dragon Court and effectively cut them off from the rest of the empire. There were a few that felt that their talents would be put to better use throughout the kingdom and thus took up positions and key centers of activity to better supervise and keep the order, though most stayed within the dragon capitol of Draconis.

There was a select group of dragons that didn't want anything to do with governing and the inner workings of the empire. The Holy Dragons truly believed that their brand of magic was meant to serve a higher purpose than the Dragon King. Thus they broke away from the empire and set upon the world on a holy mission to keep the balance of the world.

The dragons of light and darkness had always been cynical creatures but it became ever so clear when they had set up their order. They didn't try to eliminate all of the evil in the world or vice versa. Nor did they favor one race over another. Their only goal was to keep the balance of good and evil throughout the world as best they could, nothing more.

It was an odd way to approach things for most but few questioned them because very few had the power to. The Dragon King was the only one that was above them in sheer power and even with the backing of an entire nation of dragons the casualties would've been too high for the Dragon King to risk open conflict; as long as they didn't target his kingdom.

So they brought forth their divine judgment on the world and kept the balance of Earthland. That would normally be seen as fine by many, and it was. Those that knew of their methods however had a very different opinion of the 'Holy Dragons'.

If something seemed out of place in their quest for balance then they would not hesitate to completely eradicate the problem. There was no warning, no hint that an offending race had caused a disruption, just complete annihilation.

Peace had followed the solidation of the Great Dragon Empire for nearly 300 years until the point in time where the dragons had begun interacting with humans. Tatsumaki explained in great detail exactly why the civil war had occurred and why such a thing should be avoided at all costs in the future. The key to that avoidance was simple, understanding.

Naruto had taken in everything the old dragon had taught him and after much encouragement by his master, had formulated his own opinions on the matter. For Naruto, the only topic that he actually cared about was Acnologia. It wasn't that Naruto didn't care about the history of dragons; he actually found it quite interesting. The problem was that his curiosity was drowned in his outrage over Acnologia's actions.

It had been drilled into Naruto's head since a young age that you stand with and protect your comrades, even if it means death. To forsake that sacred bond and kill your friends and allies was one of the most heinous crimes in Naruto's eyes.

It had taken Naruto a while to get over Acnologia's actions but even so, Tatsumaki continued with his lessons, the most pressing what had happened to the few remaining dragons. Most of them had been incredibly young, all under 100 years old besides three of them.

Since so many were so young very few understood why the massacres had happened. They couldn't grasp why sharing knowledge would lead to such events. In their confusion and grief, they separated to escape all of the horrible memories. All of the dragons and gone their separate ways, all but two.

Grandeeney was the last Sky dragon and yet she hadn't known anything about the magic she was blessed with. The Sky dragons had been early targets for both sides during the conflict because the prevailing thought was that if the enemy's support was killed off then the war would end in a decisive manner.

That left Grandeeney without anyone to teach her early on. She was far too young during the war to be a target and because of that she was spared the horrors of being directly involved in the war. It turned from a blessing into a curse shortly after the wars end.

She was the last of her kind, the only one that could carry on the dragon art of healing and she only knew the absolute basics. Alone and confused, Grandeeney wondered the many ruins of the old empire in search of anything that could benefit her.

Watching the young dragon had broken Tatsumaki's indifferent exterior and allowed him to take pity on her. He had told her that he only took her in so that her magic wouldn't be lost forever but she never believed him for a second.

Tatsumaki's _Archive_ magic had been invaluable in teaching the dragoness Sky magic. While he didn't have every technique stored within his mass amount of knowledge he had more than enough to give her a large repertoire and a greater understanding of the core principles of her magic.

Their relationship of master and student had lasted for 200 years before they finally parted ways once he had nothing left to offer. It wasn't that she was using him and once his usefulness had ended she left. It was simply that she had grown into a mature dragon and for the most part dragons were solitary creatures. Tatsumaki would never admit it but he had truly enjoyed his time with the younger dragon.

Without the dragon's overwhelming presence, humans had begun to take full control over Earthland as the dominant species. From the ashes of the fallen Byzantine Empire rose a new empire to take its place, the Kingdom of Fiore.

The Fiore Kingdom had established itself as a prominent world leader early during the humans rise to power and surrounding kingdoms had adopted the same manner of structure as Fiore.

At the head sat the king, his word was law and power unquestionable. Under the king were two separate branches of power. One was the Magic Council which regulated all things magical with the kingdom. The other body of power was the Council of Knights which doubled as a police force and standing army of the nation.

The next form of authority wasn't by design but was adopted out of convenience. Multiple guilds had sprung up throughout the country which attracted mages of all sorts to fill their halls. The Guild League was established by the Magic Council in an attempt to reign back in some of the wilder mages by giving the guild masters more power and thus structure. As long as the guild masters and by proxy their guilds followed the laws set forth by the Magic Council then they were allowed to do as they pleased.

From that point Tatsumaki had broadened the base of what Naruto would learn. He covered all subjects from the various forms of magic he would encounter, all of the different wildlife and sentient creatures that roamed Earthland. He also covered the laws and customs of the most prominent countries in the world, including Fiore and much more. Anything that Tatsumaki thought was relevant was pounded into the blond's head.

What amazed Tatsumaki the most wasn't the fact that he was able to learn all of this; it was the fact that he was able to retain all of this information in only 6 months. That was very strange for a human, even those that were considered geniuses among their race. When confronted about it, all Naruto said was that he was actually really good at learning things when he wanted to; it was just when he was younger he was discouraged from learning due to the ignorance of his own people.

The very thought made the dragon scoff at the stupidity of Naruto's home village. Humans, no matter the world, were so easy to scare and once fear was able to set in, irrationality took root and the potential of a young child had been stunted as the result.

Jostling the young boy from his independent studies, the old dragon motioned for Naruto to follow him.

"**Naruto, I believe it's finally time to begin teaching you Dragon Slaying Magic."**

Tatsumaki had been holding back on teaching Naruto Dragon Slaying Magic for a multitude of reasons. The first was because he truly felt that the boy needed a better understanding of the world that he was currently in and all the magic power in the world wouldn't do a lick of good if he went and got himself killed because he did something reckless like eat a poisonous plant.

The second reason was what had been bothering Tatsumaki for some time. During the first week that Naruto had arrived, Tatsumaki came across the discovery that would make it very difficult for Naruto to learn Dragon Slaying Magic. That discovery was the simple fact that Naruto didn't have anything to contain Eternano in.

Tatsumaki had hoped that this chakra of his would be interchangeable with magic, unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Chakra was far more unstable than magic, so much so that for Naruto to attempt to use any of Tatsumaki's magic, he would need considerable control over his chakra, which was something that the boy just didn't have. While a setback, Tatsumaki wasn't deterred from having his Dragon Slayer. After 6 months of searching for what he was looking for, he finally was able to find what would solve his problem.

"Yatta! It's about damn tim…" Naruto's rant stopped dead in its tracks when he noticed the stern glare from the elder dragon. "I mean, yes master."

He may have added a little too much with the slight bow at the end but this was how they interacted; Tatsumaki had his overwhelming need to be formal in everything and Naruto had his brash and uncaring nature for civil conversation. It caused for some rather interesting confrontations.

Continuing to give his disciple a stern look, the dragon kept moving forward. "**Do you know why I waited so long to teach you how to use magic?"**

When Naruto shook his head in the negative, Tatsumaki elaborated. **"You aren't from this world, because of that, your body doesn't have a natural way to absorb and store Eternano, thus, making you unable to learn how to use my magic."**

This put a frown on Naruto's face. If what Tatsumaki said was true, then how could he possibly become a Dragon Slayer? There had to be more to this because the old dragon had to have known about this shortly after they met. There was no way that he would string him along like this to just tell him that he couldn't learn magic, Tatsumaki just wasn't that kind of guy, blunt to the point where it hurt, but he would never mislead someone purposely.

"**Do you remember what a lacrima is Naruto?"**

"Yea, a lacrima is a container that can store different kinds of magic; they can be used for all kinds of different things."

Slowly nodding his head at his apprentice's broad answer, he led Naruto through a small passage into a room that the shinobi hadn't seen before. The room itself looked much like the rest of the cave expect for what appeared to be a large table sitting in the middle of the room. "**Yes, that is correct. One use for lacrima is that it can be implanted into someone that can't gather Eternano naturally, which would enable them to be able to use magic."**

The gears slowly began to turn inside the blond's head before a grin threaten to split his face. "That's awesome! I'll still be able to learn magic! Wait a second, if that's all it was, why did you wait so freaking long to tell me that?"

The dragon merely grunted at the boy's outburst, of course he would find something to complain about, no matter how small or insignificant. "**While lacrima themselves are relatively easy to find, it is difficult to find a lacrima that's strong enough to hold the amount of magic power that I need to put into it so it can work."**

Giving his master a confused look, Naruto voiced his confusion. "What do mean? Why couldn't you just put any lacrima in me and I could work from there."

Honestly, it couldn't be that hard, Tatsumaki himself said that mages increase their power by training, even if he had a smaller than average lacrima to start off with, he would just work his ass off to make it into something useable.

A deep sigh escaped the dragon's maw at Naruto's naïve question. "**Even after everything I have taught you, you're still as hard headed as the day I met you. When you put a lacrima into someone's body, it fuses with the body and becomes that body's natural container for magical power. Your body already has an internal power source, if I would introduce a lacrima that was dwarfed in power by your original reserves, then the magic would be swallowed up by your chakra and you would be back to square one, and that's not even considering the demon's power."**

The process for giving Naruto magic was actually far more complicated than that. Tatsumaki was using educated guesses at best when he came to this conclusion. The only thing that he had to base this on was a past precedent where a powerful mage tried implanting a lacrima of a different type of magic as a way to boast his own power. The lacrima he used was too small and his own power just consumed the foreign object. Naruto had a massive amount of chakra, thus the difficulty in finding a lacrima that could match his reserves.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." It really didn't to him but Tatsumaki was usually right when it came to things that involved magic, so who was he to say otherwise?

The mighty dragon let out a heavy sigh, he could tell by the way Naruto tilted his head to the left and the way he squinted his eyes that the boy didn't understand what he was talking about. Maybe a simpler explanation would do the job?

"**Think of it this way, if you have a large predator in a forest and you introduce a smaller predator into the same environment, the larger animal will eat the smaller one. To prevent this, you have to introduce a predator of the same size and power to ensure that one doesn't overtake the other, understand?"**

"Oh, that makes sense, why didn't you just say that right away? You know for being the "smartest" dragon alive, you don't do everything the smartest way, do you?"

That was kind of a low blow, even for Naruto, but it had been at least a week since he'd gotten a good insult off on the old dragon and he would be damned if he let that one slip away from him.

Over the course of the six months that Tatsumaki had spent with Naruto, he would get urges to devour the little loud mouth; this was one of those times. He had been around for nearly millennia where almost no one had been able to get under his scales and yet this little brat had figured out how to do it in less than a week. Somehow, it didn't bother the dragon that much though, there was almost something endearing about how they would insult each other. On the other hand, he would be dead and buried before he let the brat know that.

"**It's not that I didn't choose the smartest way to do something, it was the fact that you're too stupid to understand the meaning of my words."**

A tick mark formed on Naruto's forehead at the fact that the overgrown lizard had just not so subtly called him stupid. He always had to have the last word. Normally Naruto would continue the argument until Tatsumaki hit him with his tail, not today though, he wanted to start learning how to use magic as soon as possible and being knocked unconscious by a grumpy old dragon wasn't the best way to do that.

"So you found a lacrima that wouldn't get eaten up by my chakra?"

"**Yes, it wasn't easy to find either, but I've finished imbuing it with both my Wind Dragon Slaying Magic as well as my Archive Magic. Naturally, we'll be focusing on training you to use Dragon Slaying Magic, but you'll hopefully be able to use the most basic forms of Archive, even with your pathetic brain capacity."**

That damn dragon was smirking at him, at least he thought he was smirking at him, it's hard to tell what emotion a dragon was feeling by looking at their face.

"Fuck you, you sack of scales, I'll not only be the best Dragon Slayer, but I'll also master Archive!"

"**I don't think that even I'll be able to live long enough to see that day."**

It was so much fun pushing this human's buttons. He was actually turning red with anger, how adorable. Anymore and he would probably burst. Unfortunately, he had to get this show on the road. The process for imbuing a lacrima into a human body was a long and sometimes dangerous one.

His voice turning serious, **"Naruto, you need to understand that the process for imbuing a lacrima takes at least 8 hours to complete and that's if everything goes according to plan. There could be complications along the way and you could die from this operation. Are you willing to undertake this process?"**

After living with Naruto for 6 months, he already knew what the blond would say but he had to make it clear just what he was getting himself into; he would feel guilty about not warning him if things went south.

"Piff, who do you think I am? I am Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage, I'm not going to let some stupid operation get in the way of me achieving my dream, dattebayo!"

There was that fire, the drive that made Tatsumaki believe that this child would actually follow through on his word. Again, can't let him know that.

"**You could've just said yes, now shut up and lay down while I begin the procedure."**

A mumbled "ass" could be heard leaving Naruto's lips but he complied regardless and laid down in the middle of the table.

"**Oh, and this might hurt just a bit." **He mentioned as an afterthought right before he began implanting the lacrima into Naruto.

"Oi, what do you mea-ARRRGGGHHH!" and so the implanting process started. The unfortunate part of the process was that Naruto wouldn't be able fall into sweet unconsciousness because the process of implanting a lacrima into a person involved adding something that was never there. It required not only moving organs to make room for the lacrima, but it also required reconnecting everything to the nervous system, which meant that Naruto's brain was being bombarded by thousands of pain signals.

The easy part was actually making room for the lacrima and implanting it. From there things became complicated. The fact that Naruto didn't have an Eternano container also meant that he didn't have any pathways for the Eternano to travel through. That led to the problem of how to exactly create those pathways.

Tatsumaki had entertained the idea of trying to use the chakra pathways for the Eternano to travel in but had discarded the idea. His limited knowledge on chakra and the anatomy of human's from Naruto's world led him to avoid damaging the current pathways. So instead he decided to make completely different pathways all together.

This of course led to another problem. Creating multiple pathways for the magic to flow through wouldn't be easy. There was no precedent for it because everyone that had a lacrima put in them had pathways for the Eternano to flow through, they just weren't used. The best Tatsumaki could do was look at how to repair damaged pathways and try to recreate them from there.

That was easier said than done but he had managed. The entire surgery took a little over 9 hours to complete but the stubborn brat took it like a champ. It didn't take him more than 5 seconds to pass out once the operation had finished.

Looking down at his exhausted student, Tatsumaki let a rare smile come to his face. "**You've done well Naruto, there are few in this world that would've survived such an ordeal. You made me proud to be your sensei today.**

_(Tatsumaki's Cave, Post Operation)_

"_Ugh, my head."_

That had to have been the most painful thing that he had ever went through, not even being stabbed through the chest by Sasuke hurt as much.

"**It seems that you've finally awoken"**

Still slightly dazed from the experience, Naruto turned towards the voice and saw the blurry image of his master. "Yea, how long was I out for?"

"**Only a day, it seems that your regenerative abilities are as strong as ever, most people would be out for a week if they managed to survive that operation."**

"Hehe, I guess I'm just that awesome huh?"

"**If anything, you're incredibly lucky, the procedure went as well as I could have hoped. You should be able to feel it now, Eternano circulating throughout your body."**

And he did, it felt so weird to have another power source running throughout his body. Eternano felt so much calmer than chakra. It was like a lighter, faster version of chakra.

"**As you may have noticed, you have more magic in your system than you do chakra, during the operation; I noticed that even though you had the same amount of chakra as Eternano, your chakra was still overpowering it. I miscalculated just how potent your chakra was and I acted accordingly."**

"So does that mean that everything is good now? I don't have to worry about my chakra overwhelming my magic? I didn't go through all that shit for nothing you know."

Seriously though, that was the most painful thing that he had ever endured, if it was all for nothing he might just snap and attempt to kill the dragon.

"**Who do you take me for? Of course I balanced your two power sources. While it was difficult to achieve it, the benefits will far outweigh the price you paid. Not only will you be able use magic in conjuncture with your chakra, but as you train with one, the other will grow as well to meet equilibrium. Of course that doesn't mean you should focus on one over the other, while your reserves will grow, your control will only get worse if left unattended."**

For Naruto, that didn't really change anything. Once Tatsumaki had finally taught him to use magic he had planned on training both his magic as well as his _jutsu_. While Dragon Slaying Magic seemed powerful, he didn't want to become reliant on it. Once he returned home it would be a good ace in the hole but he would still need to able to use his _jutsu_, what kind of _Hokage_ would he be if he couldn't use _jutsu?_

"Heh, that's fine, so when are we going to start training me how to use magic?"

"**Not for another week, you need time for the lacrima in you to become a permanent part of your body, right now it's only a placeholder, eventually it will be fully incorporated into your body as if it was always there."**

* * *

_(Six Months Later)_

It had been six months since Naruto had begun his Dragon Slayer training and he loved every second of it. It just felt natural to control the wind like he could now.

Over the last six months, Naruto started learning how to channel and control his new found power. Control had always been an issue for Naruto when it came to chakra and magic wasn't any different. While magic wasn't nearly as potent as chakra was, the problem came from the fact that he had more magic than he knew what to do with.

Learning the beginner spells was really easy for Naruto because unlike the academy jutsu, the techniques he was learning now didn't explode in his face if he overpowered them. The _Wind Dragon's Roar _was a prime example of that. He could pump as much power into it as he wanted and he would still get a useable attack.

The down side to this was that he would burn a ton of magic on a couple attacks. He could literally burn through his entire magic reserve with five roars. Even Naruto knew that just wasn't acceptable. So for six long months Naruto spent his time training his control over his magic. While he obviously hadn't mastered his control, he had progressed far enough to where he could last pretty long in a fight with only his magic.

After long last it was finally time to move past the basics. Tatsumaki had been unmovable on the subject of teaching him anything new until he could properly control the basics. While annoying, Naruto understood the reasoning behind it, after all, how many times had a well-timed substitution or transformation changed the tide of a battle?

"**Naruto, you've spent enough time on the basics, it's time for you to learn the true nature of your magic."**

"What do you mean by true nature?"

Wind Dragon Slaying Magic seemed pretty straight forward to the shinobi. One could either use the blunt force of a blast of wind to attack opponents from afar or you could increase your physical traits by incasing parts of your body with wind. Obviously the more advanced techniques would require a little more than that but what else could wind really do? It was just wind.

"**What is wind to you? Do you truly understand what it means to control the very essence of wind?"**

The old dragon honestly wanted to know what Naruto thought about the magic that he had been teaching him. It was never Tatsumaki's style of teaching to just outright tell someone what he was trying to teach them. He found that people tend to learn and retain knowledge more if you force them to think about it prior to having it taught to them.

Also, it was amusing to the dragon to watch the boy struggle with a response. He may be quick to pick up a lesson but if you ask him anything that he wasn't taught before, he'll just look at you with the stupidest look on his face

"Well, you hit them with it. Kind of like blunt force impact. If you make the attack move fast enough and compact the air enough you can cause a decent amount of damage."

"**Is that all you believe your magic is capable of?"**

"Well I… I guess I haven't really thought about it. I've been too busy training with my current techniques as well as trying to keep up with _Jutsu._ You also haven't let up on any of the lessons about this world and kami knows whatever else you feel that I need to know. When the hell am I ever going to use advanced mathematics anyway?"

"**Being educated will not only help you think more clearly on the battlefield but it was also allow you to be a civil member of society. I will not have my Dragon Slayer be an imbecile that cannot even solve the most basic of math problems. You should be thanking me for all the effort I put into getting that information into that thick skull of yours."**

"Whatever… I still don't see how being able to find a derivative will help me."

"**Irrelevant, now for your magic. What makes wind based magic truly dangerous isn't the blunt force trauma that can be inflicted by impact, no, what makes wind truly dangerous is its ability to cut."**

Naruto had forgotten about that. That Sand chick used wind based _Jutsu_ and she cut up everything. In her fight with TenTen she cut her up pretty badly. Her fight with Shikamaru was even worse, while she didn't actually get him; she got just about everything else and dug some pretty deep groves in the ground and the stadium walls.

"How do you make wind cut though?

"**How do you cut anything? What determines if something is sharp? The answer? Physics. To cut something you need to apply enough pressure to break through whatever surface you're trying to cut. To apply more pressure, compact the air and have the point of impact be small to apply a larger force."**

From the look on Naruto's face, he wasn't getting this at all. He may have been glad that he had chosen Naruto to be his Dragon Slayer but the kid's dense head could be aggravating at times.

"**Think of it this way, if you hit something with a hammer, you won't be able to cut through the surface unless you add a massive amount of force behind it due to the large impact area of the hammer. Now, if you apply a smaller force but use a sword instead, you'll be able to break through the surface relatively easily because the point of impact is much smaller. It's all about where you apply the force of your attack."**

"Oh, yea that makes sense. Why do you always get all technical when you explain things like that? It would just be a lot easier to explain things the way you did the second time, don't you think?"

Naruto knew why Tatsumaki always explained things the way he did. He also knew just how much it bothered him when he would make fun of the way he taught. He actually understood the first explanation; it was just more fun to bug the dragon. It drove the dragon up the wall and that alone was worth acting like an idiot sometimes.

An angry tick appeared over Tatsumaki's face at the brat's insolence. However, getting angry over it would only let the brat know that he had won. He had learned a while ago that Naruto loved messing with him and it soon became a game to see who could get under each other's skin more.

"**My apologies, I find it difficult to stupefy simple subjects to the point that even your mediocre brain can handle it."**

"_Ok, you win this time you old lizard."_ "So you're telling me that the real use for my magic is the ability to cut?"

"**Well, yes and no, for the most part you will be focusing on the cutting element of your wind magic. There are more advanced uses for it but at your current level, you aren't ready for that."**

"Heh, this is great, I can't wait to get this down, when I get back to the Elemental Nations, Granny Tsunade won't have any other choice but give me that hat."

"_**The boy is determined, that's good. He'll need that determination if he plans to survive in this world, let alone make it back to his own dimension."**_

The boy had the potential and the drive to do great things, that Tatsumaki had no doubt. His goal on the other hand was anything but easy. If anyone could do it, Naruto could. All he needed was for someone to push him in the right direction. How could he fail? After all, he has an amazing sensei to teach him.

"**I remember that you told me about how you have elemental techniques from your world. Perhaps you could try incorporating your wind magic with your other techniques. It may be something worth experimenting with."**

Naruto hadn't actually thought of that. This entire time he had been working with the _Jutsu_ that he already knew. Experimenting with different ways to use shadow clones, trying to get a one handed _rasengan _down. The only other techniques he had were the basic academy _Jutsu_ (which he had down pat) and summoning.

The summoning _Jutsu_ really bothered him. He had tried summoning a toad a couple days after he had first recovered and no matter how much chakra he poured into the technique, he couldn't summon a toad. When he explained the issue to Tatsumaki, the old dragon told him that the technique involved bringing a being from another dimension and thus he wouldn't be able to summon anything unless he had enough power to rip a whole through the dimensional walls.

The only silver lining was that if he could generate the power to summon something, than he might be able to find his way back home.

"You mean like using my Dragon Slaying Magic with my other techniques?"

"**Not quite, most of your abilities are supplementary techniques that wouldn't gain anything from adding your magic too. What I'm talking about is developing your chakra's elemental affinity. You already have an understanding of how to control wind through your magic, it shouldn't be that much harder to gain a wind affinity with your chakra. Like you yourself told me earlier, you don't want to become dependent on your magic, thus you must continue your shinobi techniques. This seems like the logical next step, don't you agree?"**

"Yea, that makes sense. Where do you think I should start?"

"**Where ever your imagination takes you. I'm not going to hold your hand. You already have a basic understanding of how to control wind; do you expect me to do everything for you?"**

There was the stupid smirk that Naruto hated so much. Even when Tatsumaki was helping he came off as an arrogant prick. Still, as annoying as Tatsumaki was, he was equally as helpful, if not more so.

"Whatever, I really don't need your help anyway, I was just asking so you could feel useful. Give me 3 months and I'll have everything down pat and creating my own awesome techniques. Maybe if you're lucky you'll learn something.

"**Pfft, the day I learn something from you is the day I die."**

* * *

_(One Year Later)_

Naruto had grown out of his old jumpsuit and was now wearing what clothes he could find in Tatsumaki's collection. Why Tatsumaki had any human clothing at all was something he wouldn't comment on but Naruto wasn't going to push the issue.

Naruto was now clad in a pure white shirt and pants combination. The shirt had two buttons, one towards top of his shirt in the middle and another towards the bottom left of his shirt. Underneath that he was wearing form fitting chain mail for added protection. Naruto was able to modify a pair of what he assumed were military boats into a pair of shinobi sandals. He still proudly wore his headband on his forehead.

It had been over two years since Naruto had arrived in Earthland. He had spent those two years training both his body and mind to lengths that even surprised him.

When he was a kid, all he did was image himself being a badass ninja with a bunch of different awesome moves. Those of course were just delusions of grandeur of a child. Now, he had the abilities that he always dreamed of having. By no means was he at his peak but he had come quite a ways from his 14 year old self.

Thinking back on it, Naruto wouldn't have changed a thing about what happened. Yea, he may have had to fight his best friend in a death match, been transported into a completely different dimension and he might not have seen any of his friends in over two years. Still, even after all of that Naruto was happy with what had happened. If Sasuke hadn't defected, then Naruto wouldn't have met Tatsumaki.

Naruto and Tatsumaki had a strange relationship, if anyone would watch them, it would seem like they could barely stand each other's presence. That statement couldn't be any less true. While they fought every day, they truly enjoyed being around each other.

For Naruto, Tatsumaki was like the grandfather that he never had. While it was true that the old man Hiruzen acted like a grandfather when Naruto was a kid, the man was barely around. Being Hokage didn't exactly give someone a ton a free time to go check on orphans. Naruto was lucky to see the old man once a month.

Naruto imagined this is what it would be like if he would've trained with Jiraiya. Naruto had learned so much under Tatsumaki that he couldn't begin to thank him for everything he had done because there wasn't anything that he could do to show just how much he appreciated him.

For Tatsumaki, things were a bit different. Before Tatsumaki had met Naruto, he was an old, bitter and regretful dragon. He had seen so many things that he wished he hadn't and it changed him for the worse. After the Great Dragon Civil War, he had become withdrawn from everyone, even Grandeeney. The only reason he put up with her was because he felt that it was his duty to pass on the knowledge of Sky Dragon Slaying Magic. Looking back on it, perhaps he shouldn't have been so crass with her.

When Naruto had arrived, something changed within Tatsumaki. If you had asked Tatsumaki at any point in his life if he would take on a Dragon Slayer, he would've laughed in your face at the absurdity of the statement. Something about the blond just drew you in and made you like him. Because of that, he had given the kid a shot and he was surprised by what he had seen.

Every challenge that Tatsumaki handed Naruto was overcome. He had half expected the operation that gave him magic would kill him. He easily pulled through that and had taken to using magic like a fish takes to water. He had mastered the basics and even most of the higher level techniques, all in less than two years. Only a few of the more powerful Dragon Slaying techniques eluded him and with time he would master those as well.

What really surprised Tatsumaki was the will that the boy possessed. He wouldn't give up on anything. He always pushed himself to exhaustion and even then he wouldn't give in. It saved him a few times during their training. His demon had tried taking over once during a more intensive training session and he had suppressed it on his own.

After that event, they made sure to spend more time trying to control the demon's power so something like that wouldn't happen again. It also didn't hurt to have another ace in the hole. Naruto had been reluctant to try and use the fox's chakra the way Tatsumaki wanted him to but he eventually gave in.

Tatsumaki explained that from what he could discern from the seal was that he was supposed to be able to use the demon's power; otherwise it wouldn't be so easy for the demon to pump him full of chakra when he was tired or really angry.

Tatsumaki had grown quite fond of Naruto. The boy was growing stronger every day and it made Tatsumaki proud to see him flourish under his tutelage. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. While Naruto hadn't said anything, Tatsumaki knew that he was preparing to leave. They both knew that this was coming. There wasn't anything else that Tatsumaki could teach him that he couldn't learn while exploring Earthland.

Naruto had to leave the dragon's den eventually. He had been there for two years honing his skills and mind. There was only so much someone could learn in a sterile environment. Naruto had to go out and discover this world for himself, not only that, but he still had to find a way home and he sure as hell wasn't going to find that in the cave.

"**Naruto, you've grown stronger in these last two years. There isn't much left that I can teach you. You are by no means as strong as you could be but the only way you're going to become stronger is by figuring things out on your own."**

Naruto had figured as much. Tatsumaki hadn't taught him anything new in over a month. All he had been told was to continue working on his control and to try and make new techniques on his own. It was a clear a sign as any that their time together was coming to a close.

"Yea, I figured as much. I was planning on leaving soon anyways. It's not that I don't appreciate everything, but I need to get out there and start looking for a way home."

"**I agree, but before you go, there is one more thing that I can teach you, something that trumps even your **_**Wind Drive**_**."**

Something that could trump his _Wind Drive_? That had to be something in a whole different league because when Naruto had been taught _Wind Drive_ a month ago, he thought that was the pinnacle of Dragon Slaying Magic.

"Well, I guess I could stay around for a while longer, I'm not in any rush after all. Hehe."

And why wouldn't he stay? He may want to get going but if you give him a chance to become stronger, you bet your ass he'll take it.

"**Don't worry, you'll be on your way soon enough. You only get one shot at this training."**

"Tch, that's fine, I only need one shot!"

"**Always the confident one, aren't you? Be careful, one day that overconfidence will get you or someone else killed."**

"That won't happen; you beat that arrogance out of me a year ago. I won't let any of my comrades' die."

The old dragon gave him a knowing look before turning towards the multiple of connected tunnels within the mountain. "**Don't make statements like that, sometimes things are out of your control. Enough wasting time, follow me."**

"_What's up with him? Usually he isn't this serious."_

Naruto followed the old dragon to a very large opening inside of the mountain. The room was large enough that even Tatsumaki had enough room to freely move around in.

"Woah, this place is huge; this would've been a great place to train in. Why didn't you show me this place sooner?"

"**Because I created this room for your last test. Trust me when I say that you'll need all of the room. This is the room where you'll unlock the power of Dragon Force."**

"Dragon Force?" The questioned rolled off his tongue in a quiet manner but the room had a strong echo effect which allowed the dragon to easily hear it.

"**Dragon Force is the ultimate form of Dragon Slaying Magic. Once mastered, you will be able to channel the full power of a dragon. You must be careful though, the power can be overwhelming. If you can't control it, it will control you. You will lose yourself to your instincts and attack everything, much like when you use too much of your demon's power."**

Wow, being able to use the full force of a dragon was really something else. Tatsumaki had shown him what a dragon at full power could do and it was frightening.

"Don't worry, I'm learning on how to control the Fox's chakra, I'll learn how to control this too, that's a promise."

Tatsumaki didn't say anything after that. He just stared at Naruto, as if looking for something. What that was, Naruto had no idea. It was kind of freaking Naruto out, Tatsumaki was never the quiet one, he may not be very loud but he never was the silent one.

"Soooo, how are we going to do this?"

That seemed to knock Tatsumaki back into reality. His eyes refocused on Naruto's face and regarded him for another second before responding.

"**We fight; the only way to unlock this power is for you to be pushed to your limits. Be warned, if you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you'll fail."**

Kill? There was no way he was going to try and kill the old dragon. Oh, he had no problem trying to beat the shit out of the lizard, but to try and kill him?

"**I see the hesitation in your eyes, know this Naruto, I will be coming at you with the intent to kill. This test is pass fail because if you fail, you'll be dead."**

Naruto was in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His response was a very intelligible "what?"

"**No more talking, show me the fruits of your training!"**

Was he actually serious? Did he honestly expect a death match? Had he lost his mind? This had to be some kind of messed up test. What did Kakashi-sensei always say? Look underneath the underneath?

"**You're hesitating, I see you don't understand. Allow me to make it perfectly clear to you."**

"_**Wind Dragons Roar!"**_

While Tatsumaki may be old, he was still capable of generating a massive amount of power. If Naruto didn't wake up soon, he would be a smear on the wall very quickly. The attack hit a surprised Naruto which resulted in a massive explosion that shook the cave.

As the smoke cleared, Tatsumaki could see that Naruto had indeed survived the attack and was now trying to pry himself out of the wall.

Pant* pant* "You're seriously trying to kill me…"

It was said softly but the realization of the situation was evident in how he said it. That attack had hit him dead on and had sent him flying across the room into the wall. If he hadn't fired off his own roar right before Tatsumaki's landed, then he would just be a red stain on the floor right now. He didn't get away unscathed either considering the trail of blood that was flowing down the side of his face.

"**Now do you understand the situation you're in?"**

"Yea…"

There was nothing else that needed to be said. If Tatsumaki wanted a death match, he'll get one. He said that this was just a way to unlock his Dragon Force. They wouldn't actually kill each other, right?

The real problem Naruto had was that he had no idea as to how he could fight a dragon. He couldn't get in close and use hand to hand, Tatsumaki was just way too big for that. Guess it was time to see if Dragon Slaying Magic lived up to its name.

He would start with something small. He had never truly sparred with Tatsumaki so he didn't have a clear idea of what could hurt him. Tatsumaki had shown him just how durable dragons were but he hadn't used his magic on any living being so he wasn't too keen on using it on a friend at full power.

Raising both his hands into the air, Naruto pumped his magic into his arms before making a multitude of slashes into the air in front of him which resulted in multiple blades of wind to soar at the elder dragon.

"_Wind Dragon's Cyclonic Blades!"_

Naruto modeled this technique after Temari's wind _Jutsu. _In actuality, it was the same move, just with magic instead of chakra.

Tatsumaki saw the attack coming. He was impressed when Naruto had first invented the technique. Now however, he was less than pleased. It seemed that Naruto didn't believe that Tatsumaki could take a beating if he opened with such a low level technique. That wind wouldn't even cut through his softest scales. It was time to show this whelp just how strong this old dragon was.

All Tatsumaki did was cover the front of his body with his wings and forced the wind blades to the side. The look of shock and then anger on Naruto's face brought a smile to Tatsumaki. He would enjoy this battle for the most part, granted, only if it didn't end with killing Naruto, which would be unfortunate to say the least.

"**It'll take more than those weak blades to cut through my scales boy. I thought that you were going to take this more seriously? Or is this the extent of your power?"**

That's it, he was going down. Let it be known that while Naruto's temper had gotten much better over the years, insulting his pride was a sure fire way to get him riled up. If the dragon wanted an ass kicking that badly, who was he to say no?

Unfortunately, Tatsumaki had a point. Those wind blades didn't even scratch him. While he wasn't expecting much from the technique, he at least expected to leave some kind of mark. If he wanted to pass this test, he was going to have to break out the big guns and quickly, otherwise he was going to be in a world of hurt.

He also couldn't just sit there and try to come up with a plan. Tatsumaki may like to play the waiting game from time to time but even his patience would run out and Naruto knew just how painful it was when Tatsumaki's patience ran out. With that thought in mind, Naruto decided that he needed to buy himself some time to come up with something that would actually work on the old reptile.

"_Shadow Clone Jutsu!"_

Creating twenty clones, they split apart before all charging the dragon at the same time in an effort to swarm him. Tatsumaki wasn't amused with the not so subtle diversion and released a wave of wind that blanketed the area and wiped out all of the clones. Not even the smoke signaling the clone's untimely demise remained.

Tatsumaki wasn't surprised to find that Naruto was gone once the smoke cleared. He was a shinobi first and foremost. He was hardwired to fight from the shadows. He could be a very terrifying opponent if he was in an area that offered a lot of cover. Unfortunately for the blond, Tatsumaki was well aware of this fact and had made this room with that thought in mind. The room was completely bare of anything that Naruto could take advantage of, it was a completely open room meant to test his abilities as a Dragon Slayer.

"_**Now where did you go?"**_

As Tatsumaki scanned the room, he started to hear a whirling noise that he had associated with the brat's _rasengan _as he called it. Where was it coming from? It was almost as if it was coming from… above!

"_Odama Rasengan!"_

Naruto's attacked landed dead center on Tatsumaki's back. The power behind the attack forced Tatsumaki's knees to bend before being slammed into the floor. The ground below Tatsumaki was cracked with spider webs from the impact of the technique. Naruto stood triumphantly on top of the dragons back with a shit eating grin on his face.

Now that was what Naruto called getting the drop on someone. While Tatsumaki was busy with his clones, Naruto had made his way to the ceiling. The roof of this chamber had massive jagged spikes protruding from it, which gave Naruto some much needed cover so he could get in position to make a clone and form the larger version of his _rasengan_.

"Hehe how was that? Ready to give up yet?"

Tatsumaki wasn't amused; the original version of that technique packed a punch by itself. The more advanced version had a substantial amount of more power behind it. He had actually been able to break the spikes on his back and blew through his scales.

While a devastating attack, it took a lot more to bring down a dragon. In response to Naruto's question, Tatsumaki lifted his tail and swatted him off of his back like a fly.

"**Hardly"**

Turning in midair, Naruto rolled with his landing before coming to a sliding stop in a crouched position a few feet away from where he hit the ground.

Ok, that hurt. Note to self; avoid being hit with that massive tail, it was like getting hit with a giant steel pole. Even so, Tatsumaki was one tough bastard. Even though he hadn't used the _Odama Rasengan_ on anyone, he knew it was one of his finishers. He had scored a direct hit with one of his strongest attacks and Tatsumaki just swatted him away and stood right up like nothing happened.

At least Naruto knew that he hurt him. He could see blood pooling around the spot that the attack landed, not to mention the blood that was on Naruto's hand to begin with. Well, no one said that this was going to be easy.

"**My turn"**

With that statement, Tatsumaki began flapping his wings which caused a massive amount of wind to be stirred up. He kept doing that for over a minute. Naruto had no idea what the dragon was up to. He also couldn't stop him because the only reason he hadn't been picked up and thrown around the room like a rag doll was because he was sticking himself to the floor with his chakra.

"_**Wind Dragon's Tornado!"**_

True to the attacks name, a small tornado had formed in the middle of the chamber. That was bad, like really bad. Naruto didn't know how to counter a freaking natural disaster. Normally he would just absorb the wind and that would put a stop to that right there. Too bad he couldn't do that with Tatsumaki's magic.

A common misunderstanding with Slayer type magic was that they could absorb any kind of magic of the same element. While mostly true, there were exceptions. One was that when mages that use the same type of Slaying magic fight, they can't absorb the other's magic but they can be hurt by their own element.

That was one of the reasons that Naruto was getting concerned. He could see the smaller wind blades that resided inside of the tornado. If he got swept up in that he wasn't sure what would kill him first, the blades shredding him or the impact of when he would land from being thrown from that thing.

He was about to find out because his chakra anchor had just been broken.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Naruto had to think fast, he had about 4 seconds before he got dragged into that artificial force of nature. Wasn't there anything that he had that could prevent what appeared to be a very painful end?

Tatsumaki watched impassionedly as Naruto was dragged into his attack. Honestly, he had expected more out of Naruto. After two full years of training he was taken out by his third attack? It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. After letting him ride the whirlwind sort to speak, Tatsumaki threw Naruto out of the tornado with his control over it and canceled the technique. Again, Naruto flew into one of the walls of the room. The difference about this time was that he didn't have any chance to dampen the attack beforehand.

Tatsumaki walked up to the crater that was formed when Naruto's body crashed into it. Hopefully the boy wasn't dead. While he said that he would be dead if he didn't succeed, he didn't actually want to kill the boy.

"_Wind Dragon's Roar!"_

The sudden attack caught Tatsumaki off guard and it hit him directly in the face. What really surprised him was the fact that it was strong enough to actually force him back several yards.

"Did you seriously think that I would die that easily you old lizard?"

The moment that Naruto entered the tornado he activated his _Wind Drive _as a last resort. He did this for two reasons. The first reason was that he thought of it a second before he entered the death trap. The second reason was because he wanted to catch Tatsumaki off guard.

_Wind Drive_ was different than the other Dragon Slayer's drive magic because it wasn't very noticeable. The reason for that was because wind was transparent. If he was standing still, one would be able to tell that he had wind wrapping around his form but when he was in a vortex of wind, no one would be able to notice that.

Tatsumaki had become overconfident in his own abilities. The very thing that he had warned Naruto about in the beginning of the fight came back to bite him in the ass, or face in this case.

Shaking his head to attempt to get rid of the ringing in his ears, Tatsumaki regarded his student with a slightly dazed expression. So the brat had managed to survive, not only that but he managed to get in another clean hit because of his own arrogance. However, it didn't come without cost to Naruto. He had only been training on controlling his drive form for a little over a month.

As he was, Naruto could only use his drive form once a day. Other than his demonic chakra cloak, this was Naruto's only trump card. He had only about one or two more attacks left in him in that form and then he would be out of gas. It was just a matter of time now.

Naruto didn't want to use his _Wind Drive_ so early in the fight but drastic times called for drastic measures. That was a do or die moment for Naruto and because of it his hand was forced. Now he had to finish this fight in the next couple of attacks or he might actually fail this test. Luckily for Naruto, he already had a plan.

"_Shadow Clone Jutsu!"_

Naruto created another swarm of clones, but instead of rushing the dragon, they all took out a kunai and wrapped an explosive tag on it. Then they coated the kunai in wind chakra and threw the knives at the old dragon.

Tatsumaki saw Naruto create the clones and he also saw that they threw those knives at him. Even if those kunai were enhanced with wind, Tatsumaki wasn't concerned with them because at best, they would just get slightly stuck in his scales. What Tatsumaki missed was the explosive notes that were attached to the knives. Granted, he was still a little dazed from taking a roar to the face at point blank range.

Much like he expected, the kunai were only slightly embedded in his scales. He didn't understand why Naruto would waste the chakra to create those clones just to pepper him with knives that hardly left a scratch. He was about to mock Naruto for his idiocy when the notes went off.

The explosion did exactly what Naruto wanted. It lifted the old dragon into the air and exposed Tatsumaki's softer underbelly. While the scales were still hard on his stomach, they were considerably softer than the ones on his back. This was Naruto's aim when he sprinted underneath Tatsumaki.

"_Iron Fist of the Wind Dragon!"_

Normally this attack wouldn't faze Tatsumaki, much like Naruto's first attack. There were two major differences in this situation and the ladder. The first difference was the fact that Tatsumaki was still being lifted into the air by the force of the explosion. The second difference was that this time Naruto's abilities were being enhanced by his _Wind Drive_.

Tatsumaki ended up being blown back quite a distance from the attack and was still pretty concussed from the explosion. That was quite a little plan that Naruto came up with on the spot. It also did quite a bit of damage as well. Still, dragons weren't legendary for nothing. As Tatsumaki started getting up he could feel his bones and muscles fighting against him. Curse his old age, if he would've been in his prime he would've shaken that combo off and shown Naruto what a true iron fist felt like.

A strained smile was present on Naruto's lips as he saw his master rise from his last onslaught. He had really hoped that had worked. Unfortunately, Tatsumaki was as stubborn as Naruto was when it came to fighting and he was getting back up. He didn't want to do what he was going to do next but Tatsumaki didn't leave him many options left.

He wasted his _Wind Drive_ too early in the fight and now he was drained. He still had a lot of chakra left but nothing short of another _Odama Rasengan_ would do any damage and he doubted that Tatsumaki would let him get close enough to use it again. So with that thought, he uttered a single word.

"Boom."

Tatsumaki's eyes widened as he heard an explosion go off above him. When had he set up explosives on the roof? Looking up, his worst fears were confirmed. The giant stone spears that made up the ceiling were falling right for him. He had enough time to dodge them; at least he would've if his body wouldn't have stopped working. He couldn't dodge them at this point; he just wasn't as young as he used to be. The least he could do was minimize the damage.

Naruto waited while the dust had cleared. He had set up those explosives in the beginning of the fight when he was getting ready to hit Tatsumaki with his _Odama Rasengan_. He really didn't want to use those explosives but Naruto didn't see any other way of actually beating the old lizard. If Naruto learned anything from this fight, it was that Tatsumaki could take a serious beating.

When the dust cleared, Naruto's eyes widen with shock. He hadn't expected this, he had no idea this would happen. The cause of Naruto's shock was the fact that multiple of the rock spears had pierced Tatsumaki's body. He had one spear in each of his wings, effectively pinning him to the ground. He also had multiple other spears sticking out from different parts of his body. The most noticeable was the one that had dug in halfway due to it hitting the spot where the scales had been blown off previously.

Naruto couldn't find words for the image that met his eyes. This was his fault, he set off those explosives! He didn't know what to do. He just continued to stand there like an idiot. Eventually Naruto approached the severely wounded dragon. He was still breathing, that was good. Other than that Naruto couldn't say anything positive.

"Tatsumaki, I… I-"

"**Save me your apologies child, I told you to fight me with the intent to kill and you clearly were."**

"And that's supposed to make it OK!? Look at you! You're bleeding everywhere, you have giant spears pinning you to the ground, you're… you're…-"

"**Going to die?"**

And that knocked the wind right out of Naruto's lungs. Did he just say that he was going to die? He seemed so calm about it, no fear, no regret, just calm acceptance. Tatsumaki was on death's door and for what? Unlocking some powerful technique that Naruto obviously hadn't even unlocked?

"**Don't feel guilty about this Naruto; believe it or not, you did me a favor by fighting me like this."**

"What? A favor? What the hell are you talking about! I damn near killed you for some stupid power up! I would've never done this if I would've known something like this would've happened!"

"**Exactly, your value of life is something to be admired, even more so the life of those that you consider friends. Trust me when I say this, this was the best possible scenario."**

"How? Just how could this be the best possible scenario?"

Naruto wasn't angry anymore; he was numb more than anything else. He honestly wanted to know how this was in any way, good.

"**How old do you think I am Naruto? I'm nearly millennia old. I'm ancient, even by dragon standards. When dragons get as old as I do, we develop an incurable disease that destroys us from the inside out. I was dying before I even met you. It's a slow and painful process. Not only are you allowing me to avoid a bed ridden death, you also allowed me to enjoy one last battle with my Dragon Slayer and let me tell you, I couldn't have been prouder of your performance."**

Naruto didn't say anything for a while. He was too absorbed in his own thoughts to think about talking. To think that Tatsumaki was suffering this entire time. How could he have missed it? Was he just that blind to that kind of thing? He never acted like he was in pain. Just how strong was Tatsumaki to be able to put up with that kind of disease and not let it show for over two years?

"So this is it? You're just going to die here and I'm supposed to leave? Just like that?"

Naruto voice was somber at this point. The only death he had dealt with was the Third Hokage's. That had hit Naruto hard but not nearly as hard as this was hitting him. It was taking everything he had not to break down and start crying.

Through ragged breaths, Tatsumaki fought through the pain, he still had something to teach his student, his last lesson.

"**Not quite, you still need to unlock your Dragon Force. The only way for a Dragon Slayer to truly unlock this power is for them to slay a dragon. Once you do that, you'll be able to use the ultimate form of dragon slaying. I ask only one thing, by my bed there is a storage lacrima with all of my knowledge inside. I want you to find a scholar that you trust to give that knowledge to. It would be a shame if my knowledge died with me. Now, finish our fight Naruto and know that I'm truly happy I met you, I know you'll achieve your goals, I have faith in you."**

Hiccup* "Thank you for everything, I'll make you proud, this I swear. I promise I'll find someone to entrust your knowledge to." Rising to stand by his master's head, Naruto began building the last of his magic. "Goodbye, master."

"_Dragon Slaying Secret Art: Wind Dragon's Guillotine!"_

With that, the blade of wind cut through Tatsumaki's neck and ended his incredibly long life. Even though he was in pain till the very end, Tatsumaki died with a smile on his face.

Naruto, well Naruto did the only thing left to do. He dropped to his knees and cried.

* * *

**AN: Ok, first of all I'd like to apologize for not updating for a month. Trust me when I say that it was not my intention to leave you all high and dry like that. I hate it when authors do that. There wasn't much I could do though. First I had finals and final papers to write and then I had to help my aunt move Christmas week. Who honestly picks Christmas week to move anyway?**

**With all that said, my goal from now on is to update every 2-3 weeks. I'm giving myself that amount of time because I'm taking a winter course as well as the fact that I just got a job so that'll take away from my writing time. Rest assured I plan on finishing this story no matter how long it takes.**

**As for the pairing, I responded to most of you that asked but I'll say this for everyone, as of right now they're undecided and I don't know if this will be a harem or not. If it is it won't be a large one but it might be a single pairing. My whole goal for this story is to make it realistic according to how Mashima set up the universe.**

**I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and like always, if you have questions don't be afraid to ask. Also please leave a review; it really helps me write more when I know there are people that want to read it.**


	3. A Quivering Soul

**Alright, here we are with chapter three. Before we get to that however, I would like to address a few things.**

**First and foremost, I appreciate every single review I get from you guys. That being said, if you guys want to post anonymous reviews I don't really mind but if you want to post things that you think I did wrong while being rude about it than I would prefer that you actually do it with your account so I can respond in private instead of having to waste space on the chapter.**

**To the guest that named himself gh. I understand your point about thinking that chakra is less potent that magic but I want to bring up a couple points to your attention. Chakra is visible depending on the technique, it's just rare. You say that Natsu has a magic aura that's red but I honestly think that's just his fire, same for the rest of the mages in Earthland. Second, if you are referring to the cannon that the magic council uses as evidence that magic is stronger than I have this to say. That cannon is the pinnacle of a magic weapon that takes over an hour to charge and aim. If we're using the top brass of both worlds than I would like to say that the Juubi can shoot off multiple shots that can wipe out entire villages in a matter of seconds when those targets are miles away. So I see chakra as the stronger of the two.**

**Second and probably the most important point. It's my fic; I make the laws of the universe. I try to follow the laws set out by the creator of Fairy Tail but because chakra is a foreign element to the universe it's up to my digression to choose its place. As long as I'm consistent with my choice then I feel I'm doing my job as an author making a believable story.**

**So moral of the story, if you're confused on anything or want a response from me sign into your account because I make a point to respond to every review.**

**Frequently asked in reviews is the question regarding the pairing. Like I said before, right now they are undecided but I appreciate the input that you guys are giving me. I'm going to put up a poll once I'm a little farther into the story but it will only be if you guys want a harem or not, I'll be making the final decisions on who is involved.**

**The last thing I want to clarify are the ages of everyone. The current year is X782. Naruto, Natsu and Gray are 16, Lisanna and Lucy are 15 and Erza and Mira are 17. From there you guys should be able to figure it out. This is two years before the canon Fairy Tail starts. That was a really long AN. I don't plan on doing that anymore but there were things that needed to be cleared up. Wasn't there a story I was supposed to get to?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail, maybe after I get out of law school I'll find a legal loophole and acquire them that way. Anything's possible right?**

* * *

Naruto had been traveling for a little over two weeks now. After he left his home for the last two years, he decided that he should try and reintroduce himself into human society.

Naruto was a little nervous about that. He had been living with a dragon for the last two years. While he had been studying the culture of the people of Fiore, he hadn't been practicing it.

Naruto had never been one for formal introductions and really any kind of culturally correct mannerisms back in the Elemental Nations. Case in point, he called the most respected and powerful man in the village old man on a regular basis.

A younger Naruto wouldn't have cared that much about manners. Now however, Naruto did care about those kinds of things. Teaching Naruto about the importance of proper manners was one of the first things that Tatsumaki had drilled into Naruto.

One wouldn't have known that based on his interactions with the dragon but he did. One thing Naruto never got rid of was his habit to give nicknames to those he got close to and when that happened, most of his manners went out the window.

Thinking back on Tatsumaki brought a sad smile to Naruto's face. Tatsumaki's death still weighed heavily on Naruto's mind. Even though he understood why he had to kill Tatsumaki; that didn't make things any easier.

One thing that Naruto knew for sure was that he wasn't going to wallow in his own misery. Tatsumaki expected him to move forward and become something great. Sitting around crying wouldn't help with that, Tatsumaki wouldn't want that either.

Another issue that Naruto had was that he didn't know what to do with the lacrima that he had been entrusted with. He had entertained the idea of attempting to incorporate the knowledge into his own Archive magic. That idea died the moment he tried accessing the lacrima.

Tatsumaki wasn't kidding when he said that he put in everything he knew in it. There was information on everything. Math, physics, chemistry, biology, magic, language, history, cultures, space theory, dimensional travel. He even had information on the Elemental Nations.

There was way too much information there to attempt to put into his Archive. The thing about Archive magic was that it wasn't just some exterior storage source that one could access at any time. Archive was based purely on some one's own knowledge. You couldn't just absorb the information by looking at it once. You had to actually understand the material.

That's not to say that Archive wasn't useful for retaining knowledge. Once you put something into your archive, it was nearly impossible to forget it. It could also be used as a way to connect minds and then it would be possible to "beam" the information into some one's head. Unfortunately the lacrima didn't have that option. If someone wanted to learn everything in the lacrima, they would have to sit down and do it the old fashioned way.

So yea, he had no idea with what he was going to do with it. He would still study it from time to time but he wasn't a scholar like Tatsumaki, also, he felt that Tatsumaki's knowledge should stay in Earthland.

Naruto was also pretty frustrated at the moment. He had been walking for two weeks and he had yet to run into any signs of life. He didn't quite understand, of course there were animals around but Naruto was looking for a town or something. From what he knew, there should be a town coming up soon. Tatsumaki just had to live way out in the middle of nowhere.

As Naruto continued walking through the forest he noticed that things had gotten eerily quiet. He could've sworn that there were birds chirping ten minutes ago and why did it feel like he was being followed?

After another five minutes of the feeling, Naruto decided that he was going to find out what was following him one way or another. One of the more subtle things that Naruto learned from Tatsumaki was that he could control the air around him and use it as a type of sonar. Naruto wasn't nearly as good with it as Tatsumaki was considering he controlled the wind around an entire mountain but Naruto did have a decent range all things considered.

Naruto wasn't really surprised by what he found. The entire area was devoid of any life, except one large, humanoid creature. He couldn't really make out what it was though because the technique wasn't good for getting specifics.

Now that Naruto knew he was being followed it annoyed him with how poorly the creature was tailing him. After a couple of more minutes Naruto decided that enough was enough. "Come on out, I know you're following me."

The main reason why this was bothering Naruto so much was because he wasn't in the mood for games. Someone he loved had just died, he was lost, tired and hadn't slept in a bed in two weeks. Yea, one could say that he was a bit cranky.

Shortly after Naruto called out to his stalker, a large hulking creature dropped in front of him. "Hehe, so you noticed me. You're smarter than most of the other humans around here, they don't notice me until it's too late."

The creature was a large ape like creature. It was easily twice the size of Naruto. It had green fur with purple skin. The creature was very muscular. Its head came to a point at the top and it had a very long pointed chin. It also had pointed ears and the stupidest grin on its face.

So a Vulcan was following him? From what Naruto knew about Vulcans was that they were incredibly strong and fast compared to regular humans. They had some semblance of intelligence because they could actually speak but that's really as far as it went, they were pretty dumb by human standards.

They thought that just because that they were bigger, stronger and faster than something that they could easily take it down. They also never learned from a defeat, they were really just a creature that ran on instinct that had the ability to talk. Most Vulcans used Take Over magic. They would beat their opponents and absorb them to add to their own magic power.

What Naruto didn't understand was why this Vulcan was alone. These creatures usually traveled in packs. While one might see a lone Vulcan on occasion, it was rare.

"What do you want Vulcan?" Naruto knew full well what the beast wanted, but maybe he was wrong? Not with his luck.

"I was just comin to check out why dere was somebody walkin through our territory."

Our? So there was a pack around here. What did he mean about territory? Vulcans held territory's against other groups of Vulcans, not against humans.

"I was just trying to find the town that's around here but I've seemed to have gotten lost." There wasn't a reason to lie to the creature. It might have been looking for other Vulcans and just stumbled upon him. Maybe he could get out of this without a fight. It's not like Vulcans were always violent towards humans, just most of the time.

"Oh you mean the town to the north of here? Yea sorry, no one is allowed in our out of there, boss's orders." It was funny, the Vulcan actually looked sorry about that.

"Hold on a second, you're blockading a town? Why the hell are you doing that!?" this didn't sit well with Naruto at all. Vulcans never attacked humans like this. Once in a while they might form a large group and attack a settlement but they never lay siege to a town.

"Heh, doesn't matter, were doing it and no one is going to stop us." It sounded completely confident with that statement. It was like someone had already tried to stop it.

"How long has this been going on?" None of this made sense to Naruto. Vulcans aren't smart enough or organized enough to do something like this. He was going to this town anyway but now he had a reason, this couldn't stay this way.

"Oh for over two months now. They're going to be out of food soon. Boss is so smart to come up with this plan." The Vulcan had the most pleased look on his face as he said this. The bastard was happy with starving an entire village. This was pissing Naruto off; did he mention that he was already cranky?

Naruto didn't want to listen to any more of this Vulcan's "plan". He was going to put an end to this plan. First step, take out this ape. He charged the Vulcan, which still had that stupid, happy look on its face. He didn't even see it coming.

"_Iron Fist of the Wind Dragon!_"

The attack landed dead center in the Vulcans solar plexus and sent him tumbling head over heels until he crashed into a rather large tree which snapped on contact with the Vulcans body. That would wipe that stupid smirk off of its face.

Naruto waited for the Vulcan to recover from the surprise attack and to charge him in a blind rage. Five minutes later and the Vulcan still hadn't moved. Did he really knock it out with a single hit?

As Naruto approached the downed creature he noticed two important things. First, the Vulcan was bleeding from his mouth, signifying internal bleeding and second, it wasn't breathing.

Naruto was surprised to say the least. He had thought that the Vulcan was tougher than that. He wasn't going to lose any sleep over it though. It had admitted to holding a village hostage for over a month, there's no telling what else it had done during that time. There was no way that all they did was stop anyone from going in or out. That's not to say that he wanted to kill the Vulcan, far from it. Naruto held almost all life in high regard.

It was sad and completely avoidable. Naruto had let his anger and current frustrations rule him and used the Vulcan as a punching bag. If Naruto had been thinking clearly he would've realized that he shouldn't have aimed at a potentially vital area with the same power he had used against Tatsumaki.

Dragons are legendary creatures that can take massive amounts of damage. Vulcans were common creatures that were strong and fast compared to normal humans but were nothing compared to the might of a dragon.

Naruto wasn't going to get anything from staying here. After Naruto buried the Vulcan, he started making his way towards the unnamed village to get to the bottom of this.

* * *

Today was not a good day to be the mayor of this small village. Regardless, here the Mayor was, sitting in his office, dealing with more complaints about the Vulcan raiders that had been blockading the village for near two months now.

He had no idea why those blasted creatures were doing this. One day they had just started attacking anyone that was entering or leaving the village. At first they had tried to fight them. That was a mistake, they weren't fighters. They were a farming and fishing village on the outskirts of Fiore. No one knew the first thing about fighting; they had lost twenty good men that day.

The next course of action was to attempt to sneak a runner through the blockade to try and get to a guild to request aid. The runner had been sent out over a month ago. The closet town was only a week's walk away. Obviously the runner had been captured. After the first failed attempt no one else would take on the mission, not like he blamed them.

Considering just how far in the country their town was, the chances of a random mage coming across them to help were slim to none. Thus the mayor gave one last plan before they would make a desperate final push to attempt to breach the blockade. The plan was to endure. Endure long enough until the Mayor's son returned.

The Mayor's son had left a year ago to go on a training trip. He was a strong mage before he left; now he could probably wipe the floor with all of these Vulcans. Problem was he was supposed to return home a week ago. Which led him to having the same conversation with the other village leaders that he'd had a hundred times before.

"Your blasted son still isn't here!"

"He's probably drunk at some bar."

"Don't kid yourself; he's probably at a brothel. You remember how he couldn't control himself within the village."

You got the idea, comments like that were going around the room and growing in there absurdity by the minute. It was like they forgot they were talking about his son right in front of him. When he started hearing accusations that his son wouldn't come back at all he had heard enough.

"ENOUGH!"

"I understand that you all are very stressed by our current situation but you all must have patience, my son WILL return, until then we must endure." He wished he was as confident as he sounded. It wasn't that he didn't think that his son wouldn't return. He was afraid that it would be too late and they would have to take drastic action before his son made it back.

"Mayor-san, let's be honest, we would all like to be able to wait for your son's return but facts are facts; we're running out of food. If we don't do something soon we'll all starve."

Murmurs of agreement ran through the assembled villagers and even the Mayor had to agree; if nothing was done soon they would be in some serious trouble. On the other hand, what did they expect him to do? Send the rest of the villagers to their death by trying to fight those beasts?

"Ermm, hello?"

All heads in the room turned towards the door to where the voice spoke. The owner of the voice was a young man, roughly 16 years old by appearance. He had wild spikey blond hair. He stood a little over six feet and he was wearing what appeared to be some very expensive robes that provided quite a bit of mobility. His eyes were ocean blue but the most unique thing about him was the three whisker marks on each of his cheeks. It was a rather strange sight for most of the villagers to say the least.

Obviously the boy was an outsider, how the hell had he gotten into the town? Regardless of his confusion, it was still his duty to see what he wanted; he was in his office after all. "Can I help you lad?"

Naruto had actually been there for a large part of the argument between the Mayor and the towns people. The situation was far worse than he had guessed. These people needed help badly. "No, but I think I can help you. I've been here for a bit and I have the gist of your problem."

The look that the people gave him told him that they didn't believe anything that he was saying and the Mayor expressed these doubts.

"I'm sorry if I find that hard to believe. You're still in your teens and we've lost a lot of strong men to those beasts. What makes you think you can help us?"

"Well, on my way here a Vulcan attacked me and I beat it pretty easily. I don't think a couple more would be a problem." Did it sound a bit cocky? Yes. Did he believe that he was more than capable of delivering on his claim? Without a doubt.

Many of the villagers didn't believe that this child could beat one of those monsters. Others could actually believe it considering that they had no idea if he was a mage or not. If the boy actually was a mage than maybe their prayers had finally been answered.

"You say that you actually managed to beat one of those Vulcans? How?" The claim was rather bold but it matched up. The Vulcans had been blocking entrance to the village for nearly two months. The only way in was if someone beat the Vulcans trying to stop them.

Naruto saw the skepticism in the villagers eyes and rightfully so. They had been attacked repeatedly for nearly two months and they had lost loved ones to these Vulcans. He could also see the hope in their eyes; hope that this nightmare might finally be over. "I'm a mage; I hit it with one of my spells while it was gloating about what they were doing to you guys. Trust me; he's not getting up, ever."

That was a shock. The boy claimed that he not only beat a Vulcan but actually killed it in one hit! Either this kid was a great liar or a godsend. Right now the villagers were desperate enough to believe the latter.

The Mayor was the first to recover from the news. It was almost too good to be true. "Boy, are you serious about this? Do you honestly think you can help us?"

"I know I can help you guys. It isn't like you have much of a choice anyway. From what I saw on my through town, you guys are on your last legs."

It was true; they were on their last legs. The people looked half starved. Everyone was filthy because the main river was mostly outside the village and the small part of the river that flowed into town was used for drinking and cooking water. The most shocking thing however was that everyone had seemed to have given up.

It showed on their faces. It was the same look that the people of Wave had before Gato was eliminated. That was why Naruto wanted to help these people, their situation touched Naruto on a personal level and he would be damned if sat back and let something like Wave happen again when he knew full well he could put an end to it.

The Mayor was torn, for one they needed help, the men would fight if it came down to it but they knew what would happen. It would be a one sided massacre which would be the end of the village. On the other hand, could he honestly send a child into the hornet's nest on some desperate attempt to save them?

"Why would you do this? Why would you risk your life for a bunch of people you've never met? We can't offer you much of a reward if that's what you're after." Was it foolish for the Mayor to question the actions of the boy that was offering them assistance? Perhaps, but he had to know what the boy was thinking.

"I've seen something similar to this happen before. I know firsthand what happens when people give up hope. Trust me, maybe you haven't given up hope, but the rest of this town has. I can't stand anyone that would do this to someone. I don't care about a reward, give me a meal and somewhere to sleep tonight and I'll call it even."

Naruto was a simple guy with simple needs. If he saw something as wrong he would do everything in his power to correct it, he was just a moral kind of guy. As for the money, he grew up with nearly nothing, having a place to stay and something to eat was more than enough for him.

The Mayor was dumbfounded. Never in his life had he met someone that had the kind of moral conviction to risk their life just because something was wrong. The world didn't work like that anymore. Everything was driven with either money or bids of power or some other kind of hidden agenda. The old saying that the good died young was a reality and most people tended to stay away from that route. Hopefully it wouldn't hold true today.

After thinking it over for a minute the Mayor finally decided to accept the boy's help. "Very well, if you feel that strongly then who are we to turn you away? You are correct about us being on our last legs, we were trying to hold out until my son returned but…"

"He's late."

"Yes." A defeated sigh came from the tired Mayor. Now even strangers think that his son was an unreliable bum.

Naruto was laughing at the poor man on the inside. He obviously had issues with his son and his tardiness. Naruto would give the benefit of the doubt to his son though. Just because he was late it didn't mean he was a bad guy. I mean Kakashi was late all the time but he always came through for his comrades at the end, well except for his last mission…

"Just point me towards their camp and I'll have them taken care of before sunset."

The Mayor was amused by the boy's confidence, it was like he didn't have any doubts that he might fail. Maybe the kid could come through for them after all. "Confident aren't you? Nothing wrong with that I suppose. Their camp is a mile west of here. They wanted to stay close so no one could sneak out. Before you leave you should know that there were ten Vulcans and an unknown leader, we assume it's another Vulcan but we aren't sure."

"So nine Vulcans and an unknown enemy. Thanks for the info. I'll be back in a bit. Oh and my name's Naruto Uzumaki."

With that Naruto left the office building leaving behind many confused and hopeful villagers.

"What a strange lad." Came from one of the villagers present.

* * *

While Naruto could've been at the camp in under a minute, he decided that a nice stroll was in order. There was no reason to rush and potentially fall into a trap. He also wanted them to know he was coming so they could gather the entire group. He didn't want to waste his time tracking down a few stragglers. They had to know about his earlier encounter by now and he doubted they would be underestimating him again.

As Naruto was leaving the village someone caught his eye. The reason why was because the person didn't belong with the rest of the villagers.

The man was tall with a muscular build. He had jet black hair that was tied up in a bun towards the back of his head. He was wearing an interesting type of armor. The armor was blue with multiple plates overlapping one another to cover any openings. The interesting part about it was the fact that it only covered his upper back, shoulders and his arms. It left his entire torso bare. He was wearing baggy brown pants that barely went past his knees. To top it off he was wearing just regular black sandals.

He was going in the opposite direction of Naruto. It looked like he had just got into town due to the fact that he wasn't nearly as dirty as the other villagers. They made eye contact briefly as they passed each other. The man gave Naruto a curious once over and just moved on. Two things shocked Naruto when he passed the man. One was the look in his eyes, that look was intense, definitely one of a fighter. The other thing was that he reeked of alcohol! I mean who reeks of alcohol in the middle of the day? Somewhere, a brown haired beauty just spilled her drink due to a powerful sneeze.

As interesting as the man was, Naruto had more pressing matters to attend too. It didn't take more than five minutes before he felt that he was being followed. Good, he wouldn't have to waste any time hunting them down.

Naruto continued heading west and soon entered a clearing that was clearly the Vulcans camp. Crudely made shelters littered the clearing, bones from local animals were scattered across the ground. What really gave the camp away was the large stone throne that sat in the middle of the clearing. The real surprise came from what was sitting on the throne.

A large muscular humanoid lizard that was covered in spikes sat upon the throne. It had a plate that covers its forehead and a light-colored mane that went from the top of its skull all the way down its back. The creature was easily a head taller than Naruto if not more so. It was a relatively small compared to the Lizardmen that Naruto had seen in Tatsumaki's scrolls but that didn't mean that Naruto was going to write him off.

The real question was what the hell was a Lizardman doing in the middle of a Vulcan camp? From what Naruto knew Lizardmen didn't associate with Vulcans. While Lizardmen were smarter than Vulcans in general, they were also a lot easier to anger, which was saying something.

Usually both of these short tempered creatures would tear each other apart long before they would work together. On the other hand, the evidence was looking Naruto right in the face; he couldn't deny what was right in front of him.

As Naruto tried to come up with an actual reason for why these different species would work together the nine remaining Vulcans surrounded him and the lone Lizardman rose from his throne.

"You have a lot of courage to come here after you killed one of our allies." He spoke with a gruff voice that was barely understandable but one could easily hear the barely restrained rage behind its words.

The more Naruto thought about it the more it made sense. Vulcans couldn't come up with a plan like this but a Lizardman could. Lizardmen were capable of complex strategies but they usually just relied on their power and size to overwhelm their opponents.

"He attacked me, not that you all seem to care. I'll give you one chance, end this ridiculous blockade or I'll remove you all myself." Naruto doubted that they would actually take him up on his offer but it never hurt to try the diplomacy route.

Instead of laughing at the absurdity of the statement, the Lizardman became more enraged by what Naruto said. "How dare you! You have no idea what someone from that cursed village has done! You have no idea what we have done to accomplish everything we've done here, to just end this would be an outrage. This is far from some "ridiculous blockade", this is my vengeance! This is my justice!"

Revenge? Justice? Is that why all of this was happening? How foolish. There is no justice in revenge, only more pain. Jiraiya had taught him that when he was training with him during the Chunin exams. It was one of the few times that the pervy sage was serious. At first he didn't take much stock in the lesson but after Sasuke's betrayal it made him think about it. Sasuke left the village to get more power to fulfill his revenge against his brother. It might have cost some of his friends their lives, it was the whole damn reason he was here to begin with!

"There is no justice in revenge, only more hatred. Not only that, you're targeting innocent people. No matter what that person did, you shouldn't be doing this to an entire village. The action of one person doesn't give you the justification to wipe out an entire village! All you are going to do is add to the cycle of hatred! I won't allow that, I'll stop all of you here and now!"

This child was pissing off the Lizardman. He kept spouting out things that he could know nothing about. "Justification? What gave that Mage the right to kill my son! I'll have my revenge. I didn't go through all of the trouble of gathering these Vulcans to get stopped by some random no name Mage. Kill him!"

That was all the Vulcans needed to attack Naruto. They rushed him from all sides. Naruto saw them all coming but didn't bother to move. Once they were close enough, Naruto began spinning in place while gathering his magic.

"_Wind Dragon's Twister!"_

This was one of Naruto's few defensive techniques. It was a mix between Neji's rotation technique and Tatsumaki's tornado. The rotation made the technique stationary but it also allowed Naruto to cut down on the buildup time that the original tornado technique needed.

Once Naruto had fully activated the technique it was too late for the Vulcans. They were far too close to fight against the power of the mini-twister. They were all sucked into the mass of wind and were being shredded by the tiny wind blades inside of the twister.

When Naruto released the technique, the Vulcans were thrown in all directions away from Naruto. All of the Vulcans were bleeding from the blades in the twister. Some of the wounds were superficial at best, others were far more devastating. Naruto noticed that even a couple of the Vulcans were going to bleed out relatively quickly due to the blades cutting open a major artery.

None of them were getting up; they either lost consciousness from blood loss or from the impact of being tossed from his move. Not that Naruto really cared about their wellbeing, they were small fries in his eyes and he wanted the big fish.

Naruto relaxed into a loose _Taijutsu_ stanceas he prepared to fight the Lizardman. "I told you, I'm going to stop you."

This child was infuriating! Not only did he try to belittle his vengeance but then he wiped out all of his allies in one move. It was true what they said, if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. "Why do you care so much about what happens to some backwater village!? What possible purpose could you have for helping them?"

Naruto starred at the Lizardman with a fierce glare. "I've seen what your blockade and attacks have done to this village. Innocent people are on the verge of death. You say that this is your justice? Well, stopping you is mine."

* * *

It had been quite a while since he'd been in the village, over a year to be exact. Man had this place gone down the shitter. It was like they had been under attack for months. At first it was kind of funny; after going through most of the village things stopped being funny. Everyone looked starved and was filthy. The only person that didn't look like that was some blond guy he had passed on his way in. What the hell was going on here?

With that thought in mind he made his way to the Mayor's office. When he got there it looked like they were having some kind of meeting.

"Hey! Old man, what the hell is going on? I'm gone for a year and the village turns to shit." He wasn't one for tact.

All of the villagers turned to look at the disturbance in the room. When they realized who it was there were mixed reactions among those present. Some were surprised, some were happy to see him; unfortunately most seemed to be pretty pissed. None more so than the Mayor himself, which he vocalized.

"BACCHUS, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!? YOU'RE A WEEK LATE!" Yea, he was a bit upset.

The first thing that he does after seeing his son is to yell at him? Well at least the old man hadn't changed.

"Oi, I didn't know I was being timed! Maybe send a message if you needed something!"

While the Mayor was glad to see his song was well, that feeling was dwarfed by his anger at his son's tardiness. Not only was he late, but he was mouthing off to boot. He had no idea what they were dealing with for the last two months. This brat was going to get the biggest ass chewing of his life, he was…

"Oi pops, what's going on around here? Why is our village in this sorry state?"

The look in Bacchus's eyes made the Mayor lose his anger. It was rare but Bacchus could be serious and now was one of those times.

The Mayor directed his son to one of the open chairs in the room. "Sit down Bacchus, a lot has happened."

Bacchus complied, he knew whatever caused this had to have been serious. As his father explained to him what was going on he became angrier by the minute. His friends and family were being attacked while he was goofing around. He knew he shouldn't have stayed in the last town's red light district for the last week; those girls were just so nice though…

Once his father finished explaining everything that had happened Bacchus was shaking with rage. He couldn't even form words he was so angry. One thing that Bacchus knew was that those apes were going to pay! "Where are they? I'll make those bastards for what they've done!"

The Mayor knew this was coming and he was glad that those blasted creatures were going to get what was coming to them. Hopefully that young lad from earlier isn't in too much trouble. "They're a mile west of here. So you know, we just sent a wandering mage who offered his services to try and get rid of those vile monsters. He left a little over an hour ago."

A wandering mage? He did pass a strange looking guy on his way into town. He didn't look very strong at all when he passed him. "You guys must have been pretty disparate if you sent that weakling to fight."

"Bacchus, we are on the verge of starvation, of course we were desperate! If you weren't gallivanting all over the country doing god knows what we wouldn't have had to send out that young man. If he dies, it's on your conscious."

"Tch, I'll make sure he's ok and I'll be back before sunset." Though if the kid was already dead then there wasn't anything he could do. Hopefully that mage could hold his own for a bit.

As Bacchus was making his way to the door he stopped and tossed a small package to his father. "I stopped by your stuck up friend's house in Hargeon Town and before he kicked me out he said to give this to you."

The Mayor looked over the small package. It was heavy for its size. When he opened it he found a small lacrima inside. When he turned to Bacchus to ask what it was, Bacchus was already gone.

_Sigh_* "I hate it when he does that…"

* * *

Naruto knew that a Lizardman's scales were hard but he had no idea it was this hard. He had tried getting in close and using some _Taijutsu _but that just ended up with him cutting his hands open on its scales.

"Is that all you have you pathetic human? I thought you were going to deliver your "justice". Ha! If this is all you have to offer then you should just go home."

Talk, talk, talk. That's all this guy did. Did he really think that this was the extent of his power? He must have short term memory loss if he forgot how he beat all of his followers. It's time to kick things up a notch.

"_Wind Dragon's Roar"_

The roar hit the Lizardman dead on and blew him back several feet but it didn't seem to do any lasting damage. It didn't even look like any of its scales were damaged. It didn't matter though. Lizardmen didn't have any ranged abilities. If Naruto stayed back and just peppered him with attacks he would eventually go down. That being said…

"_Wind Dragon's Cyclonic Blades!"_

The Lizardman saw the wind blades coming and merely scoffed at it. He didn't even bother trying to block the attack. The blades hit his scales and other than leaving a few small scratches, they didn't do anything.

"Ha, your little gusts of wind won't be able to hurt me! Let me show you what true strength is, I'm going to crush you!"

With that the Lizardman charged Naruto. Naruto wasn't having anything to do with that and backpedalled like his life depended on it. As he was doing this he kept throwing wind blades at the Lizardman. The Lizardman just continued his charge and didn't even grimace as each blade connected with him.

The Lizardman was getting fed up with chasing the blond haired human around the clearing. "IS ALL YOU'RE GOING TO DO IS RUN AWAY FROM ME!? I THOUGHGT YOU WERE A MAN, FIGHT ME!"

Naruto just ignored the beasts yelling. He was the faster of the two and he was just fine with sending wave after wave of wind at the Lizardman. While the attack he was using was one of his weaker ones it also didn't take up much magic, he could do this all day.

The beast had lost count of how many blades he had taken but it numbered over fifty. His anger was overflowing at this point. The moment he got his hands on that human he was going to snap him in half! "STOP RUNNING FROM ME YOU COWARD!"

That got a response out of Naruto. He stopped taking pot shots with his wind blades and went into a full sprint towards the edge of the clearing. About five feet from the edge he jumped towards one of the larger trees and righted himself so that he landed sideways on it. He then kicked off the trunk of the tree and shot right back at the Lizardman. It was caught off guard by the sudden change of tactics and couldn't respond accordingly.

"_Iron Fist of the Wind Dragon!"_

The attack went right through the scales and he buried his first a whole foot inside of the Lizardman's chest. All the Lizardman could do was look down in shock. Everything that this human did just bounced off of his scales, why did his attack go through now!? "Impossible…"

The light faded from the Lizardman's eyes as Naruto pulled his fist from its bloody chest. As he backed away the Lizardman fell forward and its blood started to pool around its corpse.

Naruto didn't feel any remorse with taking this beast's life. He was attempting to kill innocents for his own convoluted justice and was taking pleasure from it. It didn't distinguish between the one that harmed him and those that had nothing to do with it. He was just trying to kill humans. Naruto wouldn't be surprised if he was using his son's death as a justification to just kill humans. Regardless, the job was done, now all he had to do was take care of the remaining Vulcans and head back to the village.

"Hey, that was pretty good, glad to see that I didn't have to bail you out."

Naruto turned towards the voice and saw the strange guy that he saw when he was leaving the village. Bail him out? What was he talking about? Wait could he be the Mayor's son that was late? "Thanks, and who might you be?"

"The name's Bacchus, my pops said that he sent some mage out here to deal with this mess. Glad you're competent; I wouldn't want to feel bad that you died because I was running a little late. So what's your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, pleasure." A little late? Is that what he called being a week late? "Well you don't have to worry about this guy anymore. He's not getting up. All I have to do is take care of the other Vulcans that I knocked out earlier and your village will be good to go."

Bacchus just took a swig from his bottle and gave a short laugh. "Don't worry about that, I already dealt with those scum. You did good work. They were all either dead or out cold by the time I got here, it didn't take much to finish them."

"Wait, you killed all of them? They weren't a threat anymore; there wasn't any need to do that." Fighting and killing someone in a battle was bad but sometimes unavoidable, but killing someone that can't even defend themselves didn't sit well with Naruto.

In an instant Bacchus's good mood died and he adopted a serious expression. "They're lucky that I didn't do more for what they did. They killed my friends and threatened my family. They got what they deserved."

Naruto didn't say anything at that. When he had learnt that the Third Hokage was killed by Orochimaru he wanted nothing more than to kill the bastard. He could relate with how he felt when it came to something like this. Still, killing an undefended enemy left a bad taste in Naruto's mouth.

"Anyway, good work man. Pops will be overjoyed knowing that the village isn't in danger anymore. Let's head back. I know we don't have a lot in storage anymore but I'm going to try to get a party going, this village needs a pick me up."

That was something that Naruto could agree with. Almost everyone in the village looked like they had given up. The knowledge that their tormentors are dead and a party to celebrate that fact is exactly what the doctor ordered. But there was something else that Naruto needed to clear up.

"So you're the only mage from this village right?"

"Yea, what about it? Wanna fight or something?"

Naruto had to pick his next words very carefully. One doesn't just accuse someone that they were the reason that their friends died. "Did you ever fight a Lizardman while you were away from the village?"

"Hmmm, you know I did. It was right after I left. A Lizardman attacked me and I ended up pushing it off a cliff. I didn't even know there was a cliff there. I just hit it into a bush and it fell. Why do you ask?"

Naruto's hypothesis was correct. This wasn't going to be easy. "The Lizardman told me why he was doing this to your village. He said that a mage from this village killed his son, he wanted revenge."

"What did you say?" Was he saying that it was HIS fault that his village was attacked?

"It's not your fault, you were merely defending yourself. I was just wondering if the Lizardman's story was true or he was making it up. No one will be mad at you for defending yourself."

Bacchus stood there for a couple minutes absorbing the information. "Hmmm, yea I guess so. Still, it makes me think if this all could've been avoided if I would've just knocked it out."

Naruto had to agree, it was definitely something to think about. "Food for thought. Let's head back; I'm sure your dad will want to know about this."

* * *

"Oi pops were back!"

The Mayor looked up and saw both his son and the young man that they had sent out a little earlier. Bacchus didn't have a scratch on him but Naruto did. His clothes were covered with dirt and blood. The teen himself looked relatively unharmed other than the blood that was dripping from his hands. The Mayor wasn't sure if it was the boy's blood or the Vulcan's.

"So? Is it done? Did you eliminate those vile creatures?" You could say that the Mayor was a little excited to see that they both came back and had minimal injuries.

Naruto gave the Mayor his trademark grin. "Yea, I beat them all. I told you I would; I never go back on my word!"

Bacchus laughed at Naruto's statement. "Beat them? More like he destroyed them. When I got there all of the Vulcans were already out of it. He was dealing with a Lizardman and I didn't feel like taking his fight. I've never seen someone punch through a Lizardman's scales like that. You have some powerful magic."

"Well I should be able to cut through a Lizardman's scales. My magic is supposed to be able to kill dragons." Bacchus's good mood was pretty infectious. When they first started heading back to the village Naruto didn't really feel like talking with the man. Bacchus didn't seem to mind though because he just kept talking.

Eventually Naruto couldn't keep up his indifferent act. Bacchus wasn't really a bad guy. Naruto just saw him at a rather bad time. In all honesty he's just a fun loving guy that liked fighting.

The Mayor's jaw dropped at that proclamation. Bacchus simply laughed louder while taking another drink from his bottle. "Ha, slaying dragons. That's a good one. That magic has been lost for years. The only way for you to know that kind of magic would be if you learned it from a dragon."

Naruto just gave Bacchus a blank stare. Bacchus continued laughing until he noticed that Naruto was still giving him that blank look. "Woah, wait. Are you serious? You were taught by a dragon?"

"Yep, Tatsumaki the Wind Dragon was my master. He taught me everything I know about magic and this world in general. I owe him a great deal, something I'll never be able to repay." Naruto was a little solemn talking about Tatsumaki. The Mayor noticed but mistook its meaning.

"I had heard that all of the dragons disappeared in X777, I personally had never seen a dragon but if your story is true then I take it that your dragon went into hiding sometime in that year?"

Naruto thought about correcting the man but stopped. Why would he tell someone that he had just met that he had killed his master? "It's true; all of the dragons went into hiding on July 7th, X777. I imagine the rest of the Dragon Slayers are in a similar situation as I am."

It wasn't a lie; all of the dragons did go into hiding on that day. Also, while most of the other Dragon Slayers probably didn't kill their parents they must be feeling some kind of abandonment due to their foster parents leaving them.

Bacchus had a huge grin on his face at hearing the news about Naruto really being taught by a dragon. The prospect for that kind of fight really got him excited. "Hey, you don't even look winded from your fight with those bastards from earlier. What do you say to a nice friendly spar? I want to test myself against someone that's good."

"You think I'm good just because I beat a couple Vulcans and a Lizardman?" Naruto wasn't against a spar; he just wasn't sure how strong Bacchus was. He didn't want to accidently hurt the guy if he was actually a weakling.

"I'm not a fool; I had a good look at your fight with that Lizardman. You beat that thing with minimal effort. You just kept chipping away at its scales with those weak wind blades. Eventually the scales on its chest were so worn down that you easily punched right through them. Some newbie wouldn't try to beat a Lizardman with such a roundabout tactic. You have skill and the power to go with it."

This guy was a hell of a lot more perceptive than Naruto gave him credit for. It wasn't necessarily a complex strategy but still. Naruto had thought about trying his stronger techniques on the Lizardman but after he saw that his initial attack actually damaged the scales he decided that he would just play it safe and prolong the fight. Was it kind of cheap to just take pot shots while running away? Perhaps, but he was a ninja, win at all costs, he wasn't a damn samurai.

"Well, I'm not against a good fight, why not? I'm curious to see what kind of magic you use."

"Now wait just a minute. I get how mages like to test their skills against each other but you just got done fighting those monsters for us. Take at least a day to rest if you could. I know I'm not one to tell you what to do but you should get some rest. You look like you haven't had a good night's sleep in a while. Rest tonight, fight tomorrow, and for you Bacchus, we need to have a long talk about your tardiness."

Bacchus knew that tone well. Whenever his father had that tone it was followed shortly by a tongue lashing. He so wasn't looking forward to that. "Yea I guess that's fine, you ok with doing it tomorrow?"

Naruto just shrugged. "Yea that's good with me, maybe you could get that party going or something, this village really needs something to bring them out of this funk."

Bacchus instantly brightened up. "Right! Old man, we need to get a party going for tonight. Those Vulcans and that Lizardman is gone and everyone has been depressed for too long. I say a party is in order to celebrate and this guy will be the guest of honor."

Naruto followed Bacchus's finger and realized that he was pointing at him. That wasn't good. When he was younger he would've loved something like this but now? Now he didn't like the idea of being in the spot light at all. "Now hold on, I'm all for the party idea but you guys don't need to go out of your way and make me a guest of honor. If you want to celebrate someone then why not Bacchus's return? You could even give him the credit; he did kill at least half of them."

Bacchus was confused by this; couldn't he understand the amount of tail he could get if he played the hero card? "What the hell are you going on about? Are you shy or something? Would've never guessed with the way you were talking with me on the way back."

Sigh* "It's not that I'm shy, I've been living in a cave with a dragon for the last couple years. Today's the first day I've actually seen any humans for quite some time so I would appreciate it if I could just kind of sit back and watch?" The end came out more like a question than it did a statement; even Naruto felt like it was pretty weak.

Bacchus wasn't having any of it. "Even more reason for you to be the star. Oh no, you're going to be in the middle of this thing. How's this, go upstairs and take the last room on the right. That's my room, rest up in there and I'll get you for the party, tonight's going to be WILD!"

* * *

"Are you sure about this Bacchus?" Naruto was rather uncomfortable with his current situation. The party was in full swing. People were dancing, eating, drinking and just having a good time.

And they should be, they've been attacked for months and the nightmare is finally over. Once the village had found out that Naruto was the one that saved them they took to him like a fish to water. He was smothered in thanks, good wishes and all kinds of rewards, small though they may be.

Right now Bacchus was attempting to get Naruto to go hit on this girl that had been particularly "grateful" when the village found out about his actions. Naruto wasn't so sure it was a good idea. It wasn't that she wasn't attractive or anything. In all honesty she was incredibly pretty, far more than Sakura was.

She was average height with long, straight black hair that went half way down her back. Her skin was a healthy creamy color. She had bright green eyes and an adorable smile. She had a rather curvaceous body with rather large "assets". She was currently wearing a pink kimono with a flower pattern on it and regular sandals.

The problem wasn't her looks at all. The problem was Naruto's own inexperience in the field. He had no idea how to go about talking to a girl for something like that. All his attempts with Sakura had always ended in pain.

"Dude trust me, it's a slam dunk. You couldn't possibly fail. Come here." He pulled Naruto close and whispered something in his ear. "Just say that to her and you'll be laid in no time. No more wasting time, get out there and make me proud!"

Naruto still wasn't sure about this. He didn't even know if he wanted to get laid right now. It wasn't like Bacchus was giving him much of a choice though because he was literally pushing him into the girl.

"Hey Katsumi, long time no see. You remember Naruto right? You wouldn't believe how shy this guy is. I know for fact that he's wanted to talk to you all night but he just couldn't muster up the courage to talk to a beauty like you." Bacchus had a shit eating grin on his face as he pushed Naruto up to the pretty girl. Naruto was still in shock with what Bacchus had just done.

To Katsumi it looked like the hero that saved them all really was a shy kind of guy. With a pleasant smile on her face she decided to address the boys. "Is that so? There's no need to be shy Naruto-kun. I don't bite, unless you want me too." At the end of her greeting she gave him a wink.

Naruto turned bright red at her rather blatant remark. Even with Naruto's inexperience he could tell she was hitting on him. Bacchus just gave him a pat on his shoulder. "I think I hear my pops calling so I'm going to go find him. I'll see you later Naruto, don't worry, I won't wait up." With that Bacchus just walked away laughing and left a sputtering Naruto and happy Katsumi behind.

Bacchus actually did seek out his father after he left Naruto. He needed to talk to him about what happened in Hargeon. He would've done it earlier but he wanted to catch up with some old friends and see how everyone was doing.

Not surprising, the Mayor wasn't at the party, he left as soon as it began. Bacchus found him hiding in his office doing some paper work. "Oi pops, what the hell are you doing in here? If you haven't noticed there's a party going on outside."

"I'm well aware of that Bacchus. I'm not one for parties, you know that. The real question is why aren't you in the middle of it? I thought you would've been trying your luck with some of the girls since you haven't seen them in a while."

Bacchus smirked at the statement. "Normally I would but I decided that tonight should be Naruto's to get some attention. Can you believe he's never had a girlfriend before, let alone been laid? How ridiculous is that? He was talking with Katsumi when I left him; as long as he doesn't say anything to stupid he's in for a fun night."

Bacchus never changed. It was always drinking, fighting, women or some sort of mix of the three. "You know her father won't appreciate that. Also Naruto didn't seem like the kind of guy for a one night stand. Don't you think that this is a little much?"

Bacchus snorted at the question. "Kind of guy or not, Katsumi is a ten and the only way he would turn her down was if he was gay. But enough about Naruto, the reason I'm here right now is because I need to tell you something that can't wait any longer."

The Mayor didn't like the sound of that. Something important enough to take Bacchus away from a night of partying was serious indeed, couldn't he ever get a moments rest around here?

"I told you that I stopped by your stuffy friend's place in Hargeon. Well I stayed there for a bit because he actually wanted my help with something. Apparently a jilted lover of his daughter didn't take getting dumped kindly. He requested an assassination on her. Crazy right? Well rumor is that a dark guild took the mission so he's trying to hire any freelance soldiers and mages to protect her. I don't know why he doesn't just hire a guild to do it."

The Mayor sighed at this news. Apparently his friend wasn't having any more luck than he was recently. "Wait, you said that he wanted your help with this. Did you capture the assassin?"

"Heh, not quite. Remember when he kicked me out? Yea I kind of pissed him off."

"Bacchus, what did you do?"

"I may or may not have slept with his daughter while I was guarding her." Three, two, one, and…

"BACCHUS YOU IDIOT, DON'T YOU HAVE ANY SELF CONTROL!?" Of all the stupid things that his kid could do. Not only did he sleep with a client's daughter but also a family friend. Sometimes the Mayor considered getting his son fixed so this kind of thing wouldn't happen.

Bacchus was still trying to get back the hearing in his left ear from when his father yelled at him. He figured that he would react like this. "Yea I know it was dumb, nothing I can do about it now. I'm bringing this up because he sent this communication lacrima with me so you could call him. He was probably going to ask if you knew anyone that might be able to help. I honestly thought it was a waste of time because there wasn't anyone stronger than me in the village, but now there might be someone that would be worth sending."

He was obviously referring to Naruto. The boy was definitely strong and he would probably be of some help in this situation. "I'll call him tomorrow and see if he still needs help. If he does I'll mention it to Naruto, he's not a part of any guild so he really doesn't have anywhere to go and I bet he could use the money."

"Yea that's what I figured, I still can't wait to fight him and see how strong he really is, my soul's quivering just thinking about it."

Just as the Mayor was going to comment on his son's addiction to fighting Naruto walked into the building. He had a dejected and embarrassed look on his face and he was completely soaked.

"Yo Naruto, what happened to you? Shouldn't you be getting busy with Katsumi right now?"

"Yea that's not happening anymore. I don't think she'll even look at me right now."

"What the hell man? How did you manage to do that? I set you up perfectly. Did you say what I told you to say?" Bacchus seriously couldn't understand how Naruto screwed that one up. It literally was the perfect set up.

"I really don't want to talk about it. I'm tired and I've had enough embarrassment for one night, I'm crashing in your room Bacchus, night Mayor-san.

With that Naruto went upstairs to get some much needed sleep. Bacchus just face palmed at how Naruto managed to screw that up.

"Hey! Where am I supposed to sleep if he's in my bed?"

"You get the couch; he deserves that bed far more than you do tonight. It's late; I'm turning in as well. I suggest you do the same if you really want to have that fight tomorrow. I can only guess that Naruto would want to head out as soon as possible tomorrow, especially if he plans on helping the Lobsters."

* * *

Naruto stood across from Bacchus in an open field. He had promised Bacchus a spar and he was going to give it to him. Naruto was actually pretty excited to fight someone that wasn't trying to kill him. He also wanted to beat Bacchus into the ground for setting him up like that and abandoning him last night.

Bacchus was excited for a completely different reason. It had been quite a while since he had fought anyone that could push him and he had a feeling that Naruto could do just that. Just thinking about the fight had his soul quivering all morning. He was going to enjoy this.

"So how about some rules? Anything goes as long as it isn't lethal." Naruto had had enough death matches for a while so he just wanted a nice easy spar where he didn't have to go all out to win.

"Sounds good to me, now let's go WILD!"

Bacchus charged Naruto with a surprising amount of speed. Naruto barely had time to block the palm strike that he threw at him. The attack landed on Naruto's arm. Bacchus quickly followed up with two more palm strikes to Naruto which he blocked both of them.

Naruto made some distance between them after the short exchange. Those attacks hurt way more than they should have. Bacchus looked strong but there was no way that he had that much raw strength. Bacchus got into a strange stance where both of his arms were stretched out behind him in a wing like state.

"That's an interesting fighting style you have there. I've never seen that stance."

"You like it? It's called the Cleaving Hook Palm. It's pretty rare so I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of it. Let me properly introduce you to it." He charged Naruto again but even faster this time.

Naruto was being pushed to his limits when it came to trying to keep up with Bacchus. This guy was unbelievably fast. All he could do was block him and even that was taking a toll on his defenses. One particularly powerful strike broke Naruto's guard and he was hit with a strong hit to his shoulder that sent him flying across the field.

"Come on, I know you're stronger than this. Show me that Dragon Slaying Magic! I want a real fight!"

He seriously packed a punch. He hadn't been hit like that with a palm strike since that time he fought Neji in the Chunin Exams. Wait, he said that he wanted to see him use his magic? But weren't they just fighting hand to hand? That's it! Bacchus had been using his magic this entire time. It was a martial arts based magic. That's why his strikes hurt so much; they were powered by his magic. "I see, so that's how your magic works. I was caught off guard by your attacks but now it all makes sense. Let's get serious."

Naruto decided to take that fight to Bacchus. If Bacchus was going to enhance his body with magic than he could do the same. Naruto pumped chakra to his limbs to give him an added boast in speed as well as used his wind magic to accelerate him even more. He was on top of Bacchus in a second.

Bacchus was so caught off guard that he didn't raise a defense to block Naruto's fist. Naruto punched him right in the jaw that sent Bacchus back several feet. "You aren't the only one that can enhance their body with magic."

While picking himself up Bacchus only smirked at Naruto while wiping off a trial of blood from his mouth. He hadn't been punched like that since he was training with his master. This is what he was looking for.

Naruto knew that he couldn't win a fight in close with Bacchus. He wouldn't get caught off guard with another burst of speed from Naruto. If he wanted to win he was going to have to play a ranged game. That was just fine with him.

"_Wind Dragon's Cyclonic Blades!"_

Naruto threw five wind blades at Bacchus and he just danced through all of them as he made his way towards Naruto. How agile was this guy? He was making this look easy.

"_Wind Dragon's Roar!"_

Right before Bacchus got into striking distance Naruto let the roar go and it blew Bacchus across the field into a tree. His back hit the trunk of the tree and he slid down it. That was kind of annoying. It seemed that Naruto was a range based fighter with his Dragon Slaying Magic. He also had the speed to stay out of Bacchus's range just long enough for him to get more attacks off.

Standing up; Bacchus charged Naruto again. Naruto let more wind blades fly at the martial artist but he just weaved around them like he did last time. As Bacchus approached Naruto he jumped up to a branch to avoid the roar that was sent at him. Spinning around on the branch he picked up momentum and threw himself at Naruto. Naruto put up his guard but that was broken with axe kick from Bacchus.

With Naruto's guard broken Bacchus landed three lightning fast palm strikes to Naruto's torso before Naruto tried making some distance between them. Bacchus saw this and gave chase immediately. He wasn't going to let Naruto gain any ground in this fight, it was too damn hard to get close to him.

Naruto saw this and continued to back pedal as Bacchus gave chase. Bacchus was slowly gaining on Naruto. Naruto stopped back pedaling and tried to sweep Bacchus legs out from under him. Bacchus merely jumped over the attempt.

Getting Bacchus into the air was Naruto's entire plan. Once you're air borne you don't have a lot of mobility unless you had a special kind of magic. Palm magic didn't enter that category. Naruto quickly rose from his sweep into an upper cut.

"_Iron Fist of the Wind Dragon!"_

The attack went right past Bacchus's defenses and sent him flying. Bacchus landed on his back with a thud several yards away. Before he could try and get up Naruto was on top of him with his hand pointed at his neck. "Heh, looks like I win huh?"

Bacchus couldn't get out of this, maybe if he was drunk but all of the booze was used up at the party. "Heh, guess you're right, you win Naruto."

With that Naruto got off of Bacchus and offered a hand to his fellow mage. "That was a good spar; I haven't had one like that in a long time."

Bacchus simply smiled at Naruto and accepted his hand. "Same, I haven't been beaten in years. You have some wild moves there Uzumaki. Rematch sometime?"

Naruto gave Bacchus a big grin. "Sure, any time. But we should be heading back to the village; your dad mentioned something about needing to talk to me before I left."

* * *

Naruto and Bacchus both walked into the Mayor's office at the same time. They looked worse for wear but that was to be expected since they just got done fighting. Despite beating the crap out of each other they both had smiles on their faces.

The Mayor just looked at them with an annoyed look. "I see you two are done attacking each other. Honestly, I don't see what's so fun about fighting."

Bacchus plopped down in one of the open chairs in the office. "Oh you just don't get it old man. There's nothing like being pushed to your limits by someone else. The way it gets the blood pumping, the adrenaline rush. There's nothing like it."

The Mayor just sighed at his son's description of his senseless violence. "So which one of you guys won anyway?"

"Hehe, I did, though it was really close. Bacchus is pretty good fighter. So what did you want to talk to me about Mayor-san? I was thinking about heading out pretty soon." Naruto liked this little village. He even liked Bacchus. They formed an odd type of bond over the last two days. Bacchus was a little eccentric and perverted at times but he was a good guy. That being said, there were places to see and random people to meet. He couldn't stay in this town for much longer.

"It's actually about that. If you don't have any plans on where you're going next could I recommend heading over towards Hargeon Town? I have a friend there that could really use your help with something."

"Well I guess I could head that way. I didn't have a plan. What's his problem anyway?"

"It's about a body guard mission. He could explain it better than I could so why don't you ask him in person?"

"Hmmm, sure. I'll head that way. Let him know that I'm coming."

"Excellent. I'll inform him of that once you leave the village."

"Alright, well if that's all you wanted I'm going to get my stuff and head out. I would stay around longer but I want to get out and see the world a bit. I'll be sure to visit sometime. I'll see you around Bacchus."

"Don't make yourself too scarce. You still owe me that rematch."

Naruto just waved off Bacchus's concerns. "Don't worry about it; I look forward to kicking your ass again."

With that Naruto left the small unnamed village. The Mayor still couldn't believe how strange that young man that had saved their village was. "What an odd lad indeed."

* * *

**AN: And there's chapter three. Hope you guys liked it. That was my first time writing a fight scene between humans so I hope it went alright, if not I'm sure you'll tell me in the reviews lol.**

**Remember that everything I type I type for a reason so if you have a question on anything just ask and I'll clear it up as long as it doesn't ruin the story later on. If you have any ideas or suggestions I'm more than happy to listen to them, just remember that I have the right to pick and choose what I want to use. I'll of course credit whoever gave me the idea.**

**That's about it, you guys know what to do, Read and Review. It makes us authors' happy lol.**


	4. Keep it in the Family

**AN: Here we go with Chapter 4, not a whole lot to say today, just remember if you want a response from your review you have to sign into an account because I won't be taking up chapter space unless it's a damn good question/point.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own either Naruto or Fairy Tail. What I do own however is a ton of college loans so if anyone wants to take those off my hands…**

* * *

Hargeon Town was roughly a week's walk away from what Bacchus had said. Naruto had been making his way east for a quite a while now and he realized that he was lost. That didn't bother him too much though because the events in Bacchus's village had been playing over and over in his head.

When he was dealing with the Lizardman he was absolutely furious with what it was doing. Naruto had no issue with ending that miserable creature's life. Attacking and killing innocent people in order to execute his revenge stood against everything that Naruto had been taught. Jiraiya had really drilled home the idea of trying to understand one another and working towards a vision of peace. Naruto had taken those lessons to heart and killing innocents for revenge made his blood boil.

That wasn't what was weighing on Naruto's mind however. No, what was bothering Naruto was what Bacchus had done. Killing the defeated Vulcans left Naruto feeling conflicted. On one hand killing defenseless people was wrong. There was a big difference between killing someone in a fight and killing them once they had been defeated.

On the other hand, Those Vulcans had attacked his home and had killed his friends. Naruto could relate to how Bacchus felt. If he was in a position to kill Orochimaru when he was defenseless would he do it? Naruto honestly didn't know. He absolutely hated that freak but wasn't that exactly what Jiraiya talked about? Forgiving those that you hate in an attempt to stop the cycle?

Thinking about this just made his head hurt. He could figure this out later; he had more important things to do than think about philosophical ideals, like trying to find Hargeon Town.

While the directions that Naruto had been given were relatively simple he had apparently gotten lost, again…

This was the second time in a week! All he did was go off the path to go hunting. After he was done eating he had tried to find the road he was on but no matter how hard he looked he just couldn't find it. It didn't make any sense. He was never this bad with directions before.

After he had officially lost the road Naruto decided that the best course of action was to just head east and hope he ran into a path somewhere near Hargeon. As he was walking through the forest he noticed something very odd. Some of the trees were missing their lower branches and large chunks were missing from both the trunks of the trees and the ground itself. It wasn't just random destruction or even the remains of an intense fight. It looked like whatever was here didn't want to move from its path and destroyed anything that got in its way.

Following the path, Naruto began to notice that the further he went into the forest the more destruction there was. It went from a couple branches being torn off into entire trees being uprooted and thrown about. It was clear that whatever caused this wasn't something to be trifled with.

As Naruto continued to follow the path of destruction he started questioning if he even wanted to find out what was doing this. Whatever it was it was obviously violent. Luckily for Naruto another option presented itself. While going along the trail of whatever caused this, he found the road he was looking for. So his two options were to either continue to follow the path of death and destruction or to go to a town and find out where Hargeon is.

That was an easy choice. Naruto had no intention of getting involved with whatever did this. While Naruto was still weary of whatever did that to the forest his mood was slowing improving. He was going to get some food and find a place to stay for the night at the next town and then hopefully get to Hargeon by tomorrow. Yep, things were finally looking up; it was going to be a good…

_*Thunder crack*_

With the sound of thunder, the rain that had been in the clouds finally started falling to the earth in a mighty down pour.

Why couldn't he ever have a good day? Was one good day to much to ask for?

* * *

Luckily for Naruto, a small town that was connected to the path that he found was very close to where he was. The town itself was pretty unremarkable. It was slightly larger than Bacchus's home town but that wasn't saying much. It seemed peaceful enough but there was a certain sense of foreboding in the air. It was like the people in the town knew something was going to happen but weren't going to do anything about it. It was a rather odd feeling to have.

It wasn't any of Naruto's concern though. He already had a job to get to and he couldn't afford to stop and help with every problem that people had. He was running late as it was.

He did need to get something to eat though, which was why he was currently in the market section of the town. Bacchus's father had been kind enough to give him some money so he could eat and stay somewhere on his way to Hargeon. It wasn't much but he had lived off less in the past.

Naruto was looking around and that sense of foreboding was still as strong as ever. It was starting to get to Naruto. He finally saw a stall that looked like it had what he was looking for. It was run by an elderly man that had a strained smile on his face.

"Hey old man, got anything good for cheap? I'm kind of low on cash at the moment."

The old man looked shocked for a minute before he composed himself. He was lost in his thoughts and hadn't noticed Naruto approaching him. "Why yes I do young man, my prices are the fairest in town if I do say so myself."

Naruto nodded to the old man and told him what he wanted. Naruto could tell that something was bothering the old man. It was probably what was bothering everyone else in this town as well. He knew he was going to regret this but he had to know. "So why does everyone in this town seem to be on edge. You all try to hide it but I can tell, what's up with that?"

The man sighed at Naruto's question. "You have sharp eyes don't you boy? Well no helping that. Lately there have been rumors of a beast with amazing strength destroying anything in its path. No one had died yet but a lot of property outside the village has been destroyed. We're just waiting until it makes its way to town. We can't fight this monster and we set up our lives here. People would rather die than lose the homes that their families have lived on for centuries."

So it was a monster that destroyed the forest back there. Naruto would have to agree with the fact that it was really strong. To completely uproot some of those trees would require an enormous amount of natural strength. "So you guys are just going to wait until it comes here? Sorry if it sounds bad of me but that just seems stupid."

The old man just laughed at Naruto's blunt assessment. "Why yes, that would be awfully stupid wouldn't it? Luckily we aren't that foolish. We hired a guild to come take care of the monster. It took a while to save up for it though because we requested an S-rank mission. We weren't quite sure just how strong this creature is so we decided to stay on the side of caution. We wouldn't want an underpowered group coming and getting killed. Not only would it be unfortunate for them to have died but then the problem still wouldn't be solved."

That made sense to Naruto. There was no such thing as overkill after all. If they had the money for it then why not? "You knew quite a bit about all of this. Are you part of the town's council or something?"

Again the man laughed at Naruto. "Oh ho ho, not quite. S-rank missions cost quite a bit of money my lad. Far more than what our village treasury could afford. No, everyone pitched in money to get this problem taken care of. Naturally we had a large meeting explaining why it was so important to spend all this money. Though if it saved our village I wouldn't care how much it would cost."

That brought a smile to Naruto's face. That was the kind of close knit society he wanted to be a part of back in Konoha. Where everyone cared about each other and the well-being of the community came before the individual. He had seen it all the time back in his village. It was just that he was never included in that community due to certain circumstances. Things were changing for the better before Sasuke's defection. But that was neither here nor there at the moment.

"So what guild did you guys hire?"

The old man shut his eyes for a moment to think. "Let's see, it was one of the bigger ones. Lamia Scale? No, Phantom Lord? No that isn't it. Ah! Fairy Tail, that's the guild we hired."

Fairy Tail huh? Tatsumaki mentioned some of the more prevalent guilds in Fiore and Fairy Tail was gaining a lot of popularity the last time it was mentioned. "From what I heard that guild had been acquiring some pretty powerful mages recently. Did you specifically ask for anyone?"

"Oh no, we just made the requirement that there was at least one S-rank mage in the group. We couldn't even name a mage from that guild to be completely honest. Our village doesn't keep up to date with the magical world."

That was fair. A lot of these back water towns didn't have anyone that could use magic and because of that the interest in the magical world would suffer tremendously. Naruto paid the man for the food he bought and thanked him for answering his questions. The old man just nodded kindly and told him it wasn't a problem.

* * *

Mira-nee was going to kill her. She was so late. She told her to meet her and Elf-niichan in an hour at the inn they were staying at. That was three hours ago. Lisanna had wanted to try to find Natsu a souvenir from the town because of how sad he looked when Elf-niichan said that he couldn't come. She really didn't see a problem with taking Natsu along. It wasn't like they needed him but still. It was just a mission to fight a monster, it may have been S-rank but still, they had Mira-nee, it shouldn't be that hard.

For the town's size they had a lot of stores to browse through. Unfortunately she couldn't find anything that Natsu would like. Though he would say he liked whatever she got him. He was just nice like that. Natsu could always bring a smile to her face. Sure he was childish sometimes and was occasionally an idiot (almost all of the time) but he was her idiot.

As Lisanna was running through the streets she wasn't really paying attention to the people around her and ran right into the back of someone and knocked them into the mud before falling on top of them.

"Owieee. What did I run into?" Seriously, did she run into a brick wall? Whatever it was it was seriously hard.

"Ummm miss, could you get off of me please?"

Lisanna looked down towards the sound of the voice and found that she was indeed sitting on a man. His face was in the mud and what appeared to be his groceries were all over the ground. She quickly jumped off of the downed man and helped him to his feet. "Eek, I'm so sorry! I was running late and I wasn't watching where I was going. I'm really sorry!"

Naruto just looked at the girl and raised an eyebrow at her. She was young; maybe around 15 and she had pure white hair. The color kind of reminded him of Kakashi-sensei's hair but lighter. She was wearing a dark red sun dress that had a white bow tie on it. She also had on pink arm warmers around her biceps with blue socks that went up to just below her knee. The most interesting thing about her was the mark on her left shoulder. It looked like a fairy of some kind. The mark was the same color as her dress.

"It's alright, no harm done. Just some dirty clothes." That was when Naruto's eyes traveled to the food that he had just bought. Great, now what was he going to do for food? He only had enough money to get a room for the night and he really didn't want to go hunting in this rain.

Lisanna followed his gaze and felt even worse about knocking him over. He obviously had just bought that food and now it was covered in mud. "I'm really sorry about knocking your food into the mud. Hey, why don't you eat dinner with me and my siblings? I'm sure they won't mind the extra company."

What a nice girl. Yes, she was the one responsible for him not having food for the night but still, it was a nice gesture. "You really don't have to do that. I'll find some food after I find a place to stay for the night. Do you know any inns around here?"

"You don't have a place to stay tonight? Why don't you stay with us? We have two rooms and Elf-niichan doesn't need two beds."

"That's very kind of you but I really don't feel good about imposing like that. I'll be fine." With that Naruto tried walking away from the pretty girl. The key word was tried. As he turned to leave her, Lisanna grabbed onto his shoulder with a surprisingly strong grip.

"I don't think so. I knocked you over and ruined your dinner. You're going to let me make it up to you. Come on, it's not a big deal. I'm sure Elf-niichan won't care and I bet Mira-nee would love to meet you. Let's go!"

Naruto could have torn her grip off or he could've continued to argue with her but he really didn't see the point. He was getting a meal and a place to stay out of it and it made her happy so who was he to argue? It was probably going to be a quiet evening and he would set out first thing in the morning. If anything the girl is really nice so how bad could her siblings be?

* * *

"That's it; I'm going to kill her. I'm going to go find her and make sure she's safe and then I'm going to kill her." To say Mirajane was worried was a bit of an understatement.

"Calm down nee-chan. I'm sure she's still shopping. You know how hard it is to shop for Natsu; she could be out there for hours." Elfman loved both his sisters to death but they both could be overwhelming at times.

One wouldn't know it by looking at her but Mirajane had some very strong mother hen tendencies when it came to her siblings. It was that way ever since their parents had passed away. She was the oldest and the strongest in terms of power so she took it upon herself to make sure her siblings were safe.

"I don't care what she's doing! I told her to be back here in an hour. That was hours ago! We're on a mission not sight-seeing. What if The Beast attacked while she was gone? You've heard the rumors, you know how strong it's supposed to be, she can't fight something like that alone."

Even with how angry Mira was Elfman could hear the underlining worry in her voice. Just like Mira to mask her concern with anger. "Don't worry nee-chan, Lisanna is smart, she wouldn't fight The Beast on her own. Have a little faith in her."

Mira sighed at how calm Elfman was being about this whole thing. In all honesty there wasn't much reason to get so worked up. It was just that she had this horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach ever since they left Magnolia. She felt like something bad was going to happen and she didn't want to let either Elfman or Lisanna out of her sight.

"Mira-nee! Elf-niichan! I'm back. Sorry I'm late, I ran into a small problem on the way back."

"See, I told you there was nothing to worry about."

Mira just huffed and they both turned to the doorway and waited for Lisanna to come into the main room. When she came into the room Mira was going to tear into her about being late but her attention was drawn to the interesting looking man that was right behind her.

He's at least a head taller than her and had bright blond hair and the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen. His clothes looked to be regal but they were completely covered in mud.

Mira didn't quite know what to make of the man's appearance and what he was doing there. "Lisanna, who's your…friend?"

Naruto turned to the girl that asked the question and had to fight down a blush after getting a good look at her. She looked to be a year or two older than he was but wasn't any taller than Lisanna. She on long white hair that went all the way down her back and she had deep blue eyes much like his own. Her outfit left very little to the imagination. She was wearing a black, skin tight midriff that barely held in her sizeable chest and a purple mini skirt with black leggings and high heeled boots. She had the same mark that her sister had but it was white on her left thigh. Over all it looked like she was going for some kind of punk gothic look.

"Oh of course, this is…ummm, this is…" Lisanna was wracking her brain to try and put a name on the blond. She couldn't have forgotten to ask him his name, could she?

Naruto thought about just telling the girl his name but it was just too much fun watching her try to remember a name that she had never heard.

Mira was losing her patience very quickly. She was already upset with Lisanna for being so late but now she brought back some dirty blond and she didn't even know his name. Yea, she was getting pissed and fast. "Are you telling me that you don't even know this bum's name?"

Bum? Who was she calling a bum? Yea he looked like a bum at the moment but that wasn't his fault! "Who are you calling a bum?!"

"Oh I don't know, how about the guy that's covered head to toe in mud? What, did you decide to roll around on the ground when it started raining?"

Oh that was it. This chick was going down; Naruto was so not in the mood for games at the moment. "Listen here you little…"

"STOP! Mira-nee be nice, I'm sorry for being late but on my way back I ran into this guy and knocked him over. He lost all of his groceries and was filthy because I wasn't watching where I was going. I told him that he could eat and stay here with us tonight to make it up to him."

Mira stared long and hard at her sister and then at the dirty teen before sighing in defeat. "Fine, do what you want. You better not get any funny ideas buddy; I could destroy you in a second if you do." With that Mira went into the kitchen area to check up on dinner.

Naruto just watched her go with an annoyed look on his face. Who did she think she was? "Sorry about that, nee-chan usually isn't that nasty to people, you just caught her in a rather foul mood. The names Elfman."

Naruto looked at the hand that the man in front of him offered. The guy had white hair just like the two girls; it must be a family thing. Naruto had to admit though that the guy was pretty big, at least a head taller than him and very muscular. He was wearing a rather loose fitting kimono top and regular black pants with sandals. He had that same fairy mark but in black on his neck.

Naruto took the hand and gave it a strong shake. "I'll take your word for it, the names Naruto by the way, Naruto Uzumaki."

"I'm Lisanna if you haven't already guessed, sorry about not introducing myself properly earlier; my mind has been else where all day."

Naruto looked at Lisanna and saw that she had a sheepish look on her face and a small blush on her cheeks. It was pretty cute if Naruto was honest with himself. Why couldn't her sister be like this? It would be so much better than having to deal with a moody Goth "Don't worry about it; it's been a long day for me as well. So, what's for dinner?"

* * *

Dinner was rather simple, just some beef stew and bread but it was more than enough for Naruto. The last couple days had been hard for him to find any food in the forest. If Naruto had to guess it was probably because of whatever destroyed the forest.

While the food was good, the atmosphere was something to be desired. Mira hadn't said anything since she gave Naruto that warning earlier. Who knew she was one to give him the silent treatment, he hadn't even done anything!

This was getting intolerable. Naruto liked eating in peace as much as the next person but he could literally cut the tension with a knife if he tried. "So Lisanna, what were you doing that made you so late anyway?"

"Oh, I was trying to find a gift for my fiancé. He's so hard to shop for and it took a lot longer than I thought it would. I didn't even find anything."

She looked pretty miffed as she said the last part but Naruto wasn't paying attention to that. Did she just say her fiancé? How could she be getting married already? She was younger than he was for crying out loud! "I'm sorry but did you just say fiancé?"

"Yep! Natsu and I have been together since I can remember. I don't really remember when I started calling him that but when I did he never said anything about it so I just kept calling him that. He doesn't say it back but I know he thinks the same way, he's not good at expressing emotional stuff."

"Pfft, unless that emotion involves destroying something, then he's more than good enough at expressing his emotions."

"Oh wow, she can speak; I thought that you might have lost your voice. I was starting to get worried." Usually Naruto wasn't one to start arguments over nothing but if she wanted to be childish then so could he.

Before Mirajane could respond Elfman decided to intervene. "Nee-chan, please stop this. There's no reason to be so hostile towards Naruto-san. What's your problem with him?"

"What's my problem with him? Nothing other than the fact that we don't know anything about him. Lisanna you have a big heart and I love that about you but you can't just invite strangers to stay with us simply because you feel bad for them. For all we know he could be a criminal."

"Mira-nee! You can't just say that about someone, especially when they're standing right there! How could you be so-"

"Enough, I understand where you're coming from Mira-san, you're only looking out for your family. Thank you for the meal Lisanna-chan, Elfman-san. I'll take my leave."

"Wait Naruto! Don't go. You don't have anywhere to go for the night. You can stay here, Mira-nee doesn't know what she's talking about."

"Thank you for the offer Lisanna-chan but I really have over stayed my welcome. I'll just camp out in the forest, it stopped raining a while ago so I'll be fine." Naruto nodded his thanks to the siblings and made his way toward the door.

"Wait! You can't stay in the forest-"

*Slam*

"There's a monster out there…" she finished softly. Lisanna went from staring at the door that Naruto had just used to glaring at her sister. "I hope your happy Mira-nee. I hope he'll be alright."

Mirajane watched as her sister went to their shared room with a frown on her face. She didn't mean to kick the guy out. He seemed nice enough but something was telling her that she should be careful around him. With the feeling from earlier and the new feeling she had she wasn't about to let some random guy get close to her family.

"Was that really necessary nee-chan? Even if he was a criminal we all are more than capable of defending ourselves. He honestly didn't seem that bad of a man to me. He was a little awkward around us but other than that he seemed alright. You know it's not safe out there with The Beast lurking around."

*Sigh* "You're right, he really wasn't that bad. I don't know why but I just got a bad vibe from him. My gut was telling me to be careful around him and I've had a bad feeling ever since we took this mission. I just overreacted I guess."

"You should probably go apologize to Lisanna. She seemed to take quite the liking to the guy. Though I can't really blame her, he seemed very manly, something about the way he carried himself, truly like man."

Mirajane couldn't help but roll her eyes at her brother's description of the blond stranger they had just met. "Yea I probably should. She looked pretty upset with me. Do you think I should go find that Naruto guy and bring him back here?"

Elfman just shook his head in the negative. "No, I don't think he would come back with you even if you apologized. He seemed to be the independent type anyway. Also, if he really is a man then he'll be able to survive the night outside."

Mira just gave an exasperated sigh. "Honestly, do you listen to yourself talk?" Elfman just smirked at her as Mirajane made her way to her room. When she opened the door she saw that Lisanna was laying on her stomach with her face smashed into a pillow. Mira's frown deepened a tad at the sight before her. She really didn't mean to make her sister this upset.

"Hey Lisanna, can we talk?"

"What? Are you going to kick me out too?"

Mira could barely hear her with how she mumbled it into her pillow but the tone wasn't missed. Sighing Mira sat next to Lisanna and started rubbing her back. "Look, I overreacted earlier. I really didn't mean to snap like that. I just got a little over protective and I didn't trust that guy, something about him seemed off."

"What? Was it how he demanded that he would clean his own clothes instead of letting me do it? Or maybe it was how he offered to help Elf-niichan cook dinner? Or maybe it was how he offered to pay some of the inn bill for letting him stay here? I completely agree, he really did seem like a horrible person."

Lisanna made some very good points. Based on his actions alone he seemed to be a very good person. To say that it was all an act so they would let their guard down was a bit of a stretch considering Lisanna all but forced him to come here. All she had on her side was her gut instinct and because of that she all but threw out a decent guy. If she ever saw him again she would be damn sure to apologize to him.

"I know, I messed up. I feel awful about how I acted back there. There's nothing I can do about it now though. If we see him again then it'll be a different story. I promise I'll be nicer to the random strangers that you bring home. Though I don't know how Natsu would feel if he knew you were bringing home random guys. He is pretty cute."

"MIRA-NEE! It's not like that at all and you know it!"

Mira just laughed at Lisanna's indignant outburst. She was still her younger sister and she had to poke fun at her when she could. "I know, I know, calm down. So am I forgiven?"

Lisanna pouted at her sister's teasing. "For now I guess. Though I'm not forgiving you fully until Naruto forgives you. You were really rude to him; you should really be apologizing to him instead."

"I know, I will the next time I see him, promise. Now let's put this behind us, we still have a job to do."

Just as she said that a very loud bell started ringing from the center of the village. Elfman came barreling through the door with a worried expression on his face.

"Mira-nee, Lisanna-nee, The Beast is attacking the town! We have to go." Mirajane and Lisanna looked at each and nodded.

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

The takeover siblings had been able to lead The Beast away from the town but that only made things worse. At first The Beast hadn't taken any notice of them. It was merely walking through the town, destroying everything that came across its path but it never went out of its way to attack anything around it. It was if it just didn't care about anything else but where it was going.

When Lisanna and Elfman tried to attack The Beast to get its attention it merely swatted them away and continued on its path. Seeing this, Mirajane used her _Satan Soul_ to try and get its attention. It didn't take notice of her until she used her _Evil Spark_ on it. That was able to get the king of monsters to focus fully on Mirajane and she was able to lead it into the nearby forest. The only problem with that was that now instead of destroying things at random The Beast was trying its hardest to completely destroy Mira.

Mira put her hands together and began charging her next attack. The Beast continued to lumber towards her as her attack reached its apex of power.

"_Evil Explosion!"_

The attack blanketed the entire clearing in pure darkness magic. When the magic dissipated all of the trees were completely destroyed. The Beast however stood there looking completely un-phased by the attack. The Beast let out a horrible roar and charged at the shocked mage.

"Nee-chan move!"

Her brother's yell woke her out of her stupor just in time for her to avoid the deadly charge by the monster. How was this thing completely unharmed by her attack? That was one of her strongest attacks and it just shook it off like she threw a snowball at him!

"Mira-nee get it together! We need you to get serious!"

"I know that! I am being serious! This thing isn't being affected by my magic!" This didn't make any sense, why was nothing working? Was it immune to darkness magic or something?

"_Animal Soul: Half Bird!"_

"Mira-nee, hold him down, I have an idea." Lisanna took off into the sky with her wings that she gained with her take over magic. She flew to her brother and picked him up in her talons before flying high into the sky. After flying straight up for a few minutes she changed directions so that she was now in a full swan dive. "Mira-nee now!" As she said that she threw Elfman right at The Beast.

"_Darkness Stream!"_

"_Beast Arm: Iron Bull!"_

The Beast saw the man falling towards him at high speed and raised one of its massive arms to crush the human but stopped when a large black magic circle formed underneath it. From the magic circle rose black tendrils that wrapped around The Beast, effectively binding it.

"I am a man!" Elfman brought down his iron fist on top of the monsters head with enough force to punch through a steel wall. The attack didn't even leave a mark on The Beast's forehead and with a mighty roar the king of monsters broke the tendrils that were keeping it from moving. Before Elfman could respond the monster backhanded him hard and sent him flying across the field.

"Elfman!"

"Elf-niichan!"

Seeing her brother go down like that made Mira's blood boil. If her magic wasn't going to work then she was going to beat this thing with her fists. She charged the uncaring beast and started beating on the creature's mid-section. She just kept punching it in the stomach; she knew she was doing damage. Every time she landed an attack it would take a step back and she could feel the entire beast's body shake when her fist made contact. Why. Wouldn't. This. Thing. Go. Down!?

The Beast was getting tired of letting this little human use it as a punching bag. It raised both of its hands high into the air and brought them down onto Mira's back. The power behind the attack knocked her to the ground. Then The Beast kicked her downed form which sent her skidding across the ground.

"_Animal Soul: Tigress!"_

"Mira-nee I'm coming!" Lisanna used her takeovers faster and more agile body to weave around The Beast as it tried to crush her. When she got to her downed sister's body she saw that she was bleeding from her mouth and her entire abdominal section was bruised from where the monster kicked her.

"Come on Mira-nee, wake up, we need you." Lisanna began shaking her sister and lightly tapping her on her face in an attempt to wake her up. After a minute of doing that Mira's eyes fluttered open.

"Ugh, Lisanna? What happened?" That was when it hit her. The Beast had put a massive beating on her and had apparently knocked her out briefly. Getting up slowly she addressed her sister. "Lisanna, go check on Elfman, I'll keep ugly over there busy."

Lisanna wasn't having any of it. "Mira-nee you're hurt, just look at you. We should go get Elf-nii-chan and retreat. We can come back later and deal with it. Maybe we could bring Natsu or Erza. We can't do this alone!" Lisanna was in tears by the time she finished talking. She knew she couldn't do any damage to this thing. Elfman was thrown to god knows where and Mira's magic wasn't working on this monster. If they stayed and fought any longer they were going to die and she knew it.

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE A MAN!" Was all the two sisters heard as a massive tree was thrown through the air at The Beast. They both turned to see Elfman standing at the edge of the clearing with his _Beast Arm: Bear Arm _active. He was bleeding from a cut just below his left eye but otherwise he looked ok.

"Lisanna, I know you're scared but we can do this. Look at Elfman, he hasn't given up yet. We are mages from Fairy Tail! We can this. Now let's go stop the king of all monsters."

Lisanna wiped the tears from her eyes as she saw her older siblings standing tall against this unbelievably powerful foe. Mira was right, they were Fairy Tail mages and they didn't know when to give up!

"Elfman! Lisanna! Keep it busy for a minute."

Both younger siblings nodded at their older sister. Lisanna took off into a full sprint toward her brother and he prepared for what he knew was going to happen. As she got close to him she jumped into the air and let her _Tigress_ takeover fade and replaced it with a different one.

"_Animal Soul: Penguin!"_

Her new takeover revealed that she had turned herself into a massive penguin that easily weighed 300 pounds. Elfman caught her mid jump with his _Bear Arm_ and threw her straight towards The Beast with amazing force.

The Beast was still slightly dazed from taking a full tree to the face and didn't see the massive aquatic bird that was being thrown at him. Lisanna smashed straight into the side of The Beast's head. She rolled in mid-air after the hit and dropped her takeover before replacing it with her partial takeover, _Wings_.

During that entire exchange Mira was charging for one of her most powerful attacks. If this didn't work then she didn't know what would. She wasn't thinking of that though. She was concentrating on making sure that Lisanna was able to get out of the way before she let her attack go. Just a couple more seconds and… Now!

"_Soul Extinction!"_

Mira put every last drop of her magic power into this attack. It was an all or nothing moment for her. The attack washed over The Beast and went on for miles behind it destroying everything in its path. Once Mira had finished the attack she dropped to her knees and her _Satan Soul _had vanished leaving her in what she was wearing earlier today.

The dust in the area cleared and revealed the devastation left over from Mira's attack. The ground itself was uprooted and a groove a few feet deep into the ground stretched on for a couple miles. But to the takeover sibling's horror, there stood The Beast, looking no worse for wear.

The Beast saw the now defenseless Mira and charged at her with the intention of ending her. Mira saw it charging her but she couldn't do anything about it. Her magic was completely gone, her muscles were sore, her body beaten and bruised. All she could do was put her arms in front of her face and hope for the best.

The Beast came down upon her with no mercy, its massive arm smashing into her meager defense with crushing force. She felt the bone in her left arm break. She screamed as the pain enveloped her. Instead of tossing her around like it had done for most of the battle, it stood over her and started slowly crushing her with its massive bird like foot.

Elfman saw his sister crying out in pain as the life was slowly being forced from her body. How could this happen? Where had they gone wrong? Maybe he should've let Natsu come with them. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if he wasn't so overconfident in his abilities. Seeing his sister in such pain lit a fire in Elfman's soul. NO! This wasn't over. There was still something he could do.

Mira's world started to fade as her vision wavered. Was this how she was going to die? Being squished to death by a monster that was somehow immune to her magic? There was some form of irony there but it was lost in between the unbearable pain. Mira closed her eyes and finally decided to accept her fate.

She waited and waited but the end never came. The pain was there but it wasn't getting any worse, it almost felt like it let up some. She opened her eyes to see that Elfman had jumped on the back of The Beast. "Elfman! What are you doing? Get off of it, it'll kill you!" Damn it, why wouldn't her body move?

"I won't let you hurt my sisters!"

"_Full Body Takeover: Beast Soul!"_

There was a blinding light and both Mirajane and Lisanna had to turn away. When the light died down only The Beast remained. Neither Lisanna nor Mira knew if it worked or not.

"Elfman? Are you in there?"

The Beast turned towards the voice and simply stared at Mira for a long time. After what felt like eternity The Beast's eyes glowed red and it let out a horrible roar.

"No…Elfman! Fight it! Don't give in to this monster!"

The Beast ignored Mira's rumblings as it slowly stalked towards her with the intention of finishing her off.

Mira just watched as her brother came towards her. She couldn't do anything to stop it. Between her arm being broken and her exhausting all of her magical power she was defenseless. Tears started streaming down her face at how frustrating all of this was.

"Elf-niichan. What's the matter? It's your little sister, Lisanna. Did you forget Mira-nee too? There's no way you'd forget about us, right Elf-niichan? Because we both love you very much Elf-niichan. Let's go home, kay?"

Mira watched in horror as her stupid little sister approached The Beast with open arms as a way to try and bring Elfman back. She watched as it raised one of its massive arms as it prepared to bring it down on Lisanna.

"LISANNA!"

* * *

Naruto was still a little miffed about how that Mira girl had kicked him out. He did understand her desire to make sure he wasn't a threat to her family, he really did. That being said, she didn't have to be such a bitch about it. It wasn't even his choice to stay there.

Naruto sighed as he was just fed up with being annoyed by the matter. It really didn't matter anymore considering he probably wasn't going to see them again. It was probably for the best, all things considered. The entire time he was by Mirajane he felt uneasy. It felt sort of familiar but not in a good way. It almost reminded him of the Kyūbi's chakra. It was small but that evil feeling he was getting from her magic just made him feel uneasy.

Naruto knew that they were all mages. He couldn't sense any magic from either Lisanna-chan or Elfman-san but he could feel some of Mira's. He wasn't a sensor type shinobi or mage so that said something about her magic levels. It also helped that they all had a guild mark somewhere on their bodies. Naruto would admit that he was curious about what kind of magic Mira used to give off that dark feeling, demonic even.

Maybe that's why she felt so uneasy around him. She could sense the Kyūbi's chakra that was always present in his body. Anyone that felt that power would be uncomfortable. It was a shame; he really did like that family.

Naruto had entertained the thought of finding somewhere to camp for the night but quickly discarded the thought. While it stopped raining hours ago everything was still wet and he really didn't feel like making a wet camp. Hargeon was only a day's run away anyway so he could get there by tomorrow night if he left now.

Before Naruto set out for Hargeon he felt that same magic he felt from Mirajane earlier that day,only this time it was far more potent. Was she actually using her magic? Wow, she really did have a ton of magical power. The sound of a horrible roar reached Naruto's ears as he was admiring the sheer strength of Mira's power. A frown made its way to Naruto's face as he heard that roar. She was fighting some kind of beast and it was plenty powerful if it was giving her trouble.

If Naruto had to guess he would assume that Lisanna-chan and Elfman were fighting with her but he couldn't feel their magical power over Mira's. Another explosion of magical power went off in the distance followed by another roar. He really shouldn't get involved in this; it was obviously a mission for their guild. The destroyed forest came to Naruto's mind. They were fighting what did that.

He examined the area that he came across. That thing had enormous physical strength to be able to completely uproot trees the way it did. Naruto could only think of a few creatures from his studies that had that kind of power and none of them were among his top choices to fight. Another roar reached Naruto's ears and that finally was able to push him into action.

Naruto headed towards where he could feel Mira and he got there in only a few minutes. It looked like they had been fighting for quite a while. Mirajane's appearance had changed drastically. She now looked like some kind of succubus. Her hair was now sticking straight up in the air. Her outfit consisted of a blood red leotard that exposed her stomach and a large portion of her chest. She also had thigh high stockings in the same color. Her hands and forearms were covered in pale gauntlets that had fins sticking out from the forearm. She had a pair of black, bat like wings and thick black tail. Her once flawless skin now seemed to be cracked in random places.

Lisanna was in some tigress outfit that seemed more akin to some guy's fantasy rather than something to actually fight in. she was looking remarkably better than her sister but she still looked tired from fighting.

Elfman was doing a pretty good job of impressing him. When Naruto got there he saw Elfman throw an entire tree at the monster's head. One of his arms had turned into a large, black, furry muscular arm. It seemed that they all used some kind of form altering magic. He could've sworn he read about this type of magic before but he couldn't put a name to it. Even though Elfman looked rather beaten up he had a smile on his face. Guess that talk about being a man wasn't just for show.

Looking at what they were fighting gave Naruto pause. It was huge! At least three times as tall as Elfman. Its upper body was a mix of green and red with long muscular arms. It had a yellow spike protruding from each of its shoulders. Its hands were comprised of two massive claws that looked like they could easily render flesh. It had a relatively small head compared to the rest of its body and it had two yellow horns that came out of its forehead. What was really strange about this creature was that it had large bird like legs and massive talons for feet. Overall it was a rather intimidating monster.

What was really bothering Naruto however was the fact that he'd seen this thing before. It came up in one of Tatsumaki's lessons but he couldn't remember why. Ugh this was annoying, he couldn't remember anything today.

Watching the siblings fight, Naruto had to give them credit, they worked beautifully as a team. Their last combination was really something. Not to mention the fact that Mira destroyed everything in the area with her last attack. She definitely wasn't making an idle threat earlier; she had the power to back what she threatened him with.

When the smoke cleared Naruto was confused. How was that thing still standing? It didn't even look hurt, it almost felt…stronger? But that wasn't possible, there was only one creature that could absorb darkness magic and that was… the king of monsters, The Beast.

Now Naruto remembered. That thing was The Beast. It was one of the few "Dark Ones" from the ancient world. That wasn't good; Mirajane used some type of darkness magic. She was the worst possible match up for something like this. It literally feeds on evil magic and the darkness in one's soul. Every time she attacked, it became stronger and considering she was the strongest person out of those three… they didn't stand a chance.

Naruto's thoughts were proven true when The Beast started making its way towards Mira. She tried to defend herself but there wasn't anything she could do. She had completely exhausted her reserves and now she was being crushed to death. He had to do something now or she wouldn't make it.

"_Full Body Takeover: Beast Soul!"_

Takeover? That's what kind of magic they were using? It fit but what the hell did Elfman think he was doing? To takeover something you had to have not only the will to dominate the target's will but also at least the same magical power level as the target. Elman might have had the will but he certainly didn't have the power, not after Mirajane had given it so much darkness to feed off of.

After watching for a few minutes Naruto's fears turned out to be well founded. Elfman had lost himself to The Beast. Wait, why was Lisanna-chan approaching it with open arms? Was she trying to reason with it? Not good, he had to move now!

"LISANNA!"

He should've intervened long before now but he wanted to see if the Strauss siblings could do it on their own. Now he was regretting that decision. With a burst of wind magic he propelled himself through the air just in time to grab hold of Lisanna and shield her from The Beast's attack with his body.

Naruto with Lisanna in his arms was thrown across the field where he landed hard against a rather large rock. The force of the impact was enough to make a small indent on the rock as well as cause spider web cracks to form. Naruto slowly lifted his head from the rock and looked down at the shocked girl. "Are you alright Lisanna-chan?"

"N-N-Naruto-kun? What are you doing here? Why did you do that?" There were so many other questions she wanted to ask but those seemed to be the most pressing.

Naruto just smiled down at the girl. "I felt your sister's magic from a mile away and I came to see what the problem was when I came across you guys fighting this monster. Why did I do it? Well, we're friends aren't we? I'd do anything to protect my friends."

He risked his life to save her just because they were friends? Sure she would risk her life for anyone at Fairy Tail but that was different. She had just met him earlier today. She really didn't know what to say. A rather timid thank you was all she could manage.

"Don't worry about it. Go check on your sister, she looks like she could use some help. I'll finish this."

"What do you mean you're going to finish it?"

"I'm going to bring your brother back."

With that Naruto charged at The Beast. He knew that words would be pointless now. If he couldn't even recognize his own sister then there was no way he would stop for him.

Naruto ducked under a swing by The Beast and let go a roar at full power right into the monster's gut.

"_Wind Dragon's Roar!"_

The attack only lifted The Beast into the air a few feet. It didn't even lose its balance. He had expected for it to do at least a little bit of damage. Backing up out of its range Naruto created a few clones to distract it while Naruto worked on his next attack.

For all of The Beast's size and power it was rather lacking in one physical department, mobility. While it was decently fast in straight shots and the like, it had little to no flexibility so a bunch of comparatively small, speedy clones weaving in and out of its range of attack made it very difficult to do any damage. The clones weren't doing anything more than superficial wounds but it wasn't their job to do any damage, just to keep it busy.

Naruto had been experimenting with a couple new techniques since he had left Tatsumaki's cave. One of them was a partial form of his _Wind Drive_ where he coated his arms in his magic as a way to enhance his strength and blocking ability.

The problem was getting the proper control to keep the wind around his arms without going into his drive form. The extra control and power his drive form gave him allowed him to maintain the wind all around his body but without it the strain had always been too much for his control.

He hadn't truly used this technique before but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try. Finally getting the right flow of magic Naruto charged in again, this time with far more success. The clones were still providing a much needed distraction but they were dying off one at a time. Slipping through The Beast's guard Naruto landed a particularly powerful blow into the midsection of The Beast which managed to bring it to its knees. As Naruto was getting ready to smash The Beast's head into the ground it swung at Naruto and sent him flying.

Naruto righted himself in midair before landing on his feet and sliding back. This thing could really hit hard but he could hit harder. It was time to take it up a notch.

Mira was amazed at what she was witnessing. The guy that she kicked out earlier had come to her sister's rescue and was fighting The Beast blow for blow! And the magic he was using… she'd only seen it once before and that mage didn't have anywhere near the amount of power or control that this guy was showing.

"Mira-nee! Are you ok?" Mira took her eyes off of the fight to look at her sister. Her eyes conveyed just how worried she was. A small smile came to Mira's lips as she grabbed Lisanna and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Don't you ever do something so stupid again! If it wasn't for that Naruto guy you…you…"

Lisanna returned the hug with just as much vigor. "I know Mira-nee. I'm sorry, I just couldn't think of any other way of getting Elf-niichan back."

"Well it was stupid but I'm glad you're safe." Mira turned her attention back to battle where Naruto was still going toe to toe with The Beast. "I would've never guessed that he was so strong. I thought I felt something weird from him earlier but I never imagined he was a mage."

Lisanna could only nod in agreement. "He's so strong, and his magic. It's just like Natsu-kun's, he's a Dragon Slayer. I didn't think I would meet another one."

"He's a lot stronger than Natsu. His control over his magic is astounding. He's using his wind around his arms to cushion the blows from The Beast so he can fight it hand to hand."

Lisanna wanted to argue that Natsu wasn't that weak but she knew his control over his magic was sub-par at best. He was just too much of a loose cannon. While Natsu's Dragon Slaying magic was fierce and wild, Naruto's Dragon Slaying magic was strong and precise.

Naruto was getting tired of this. Yea he wanted to test out his new technique against something that was strong but even he had his limits. Even though he was winning the exchange of fists with The Beast because of his speed, he was wearing down. Every punch he blocked felt like a sledge hammer on his arm and that was after the wind softened the blow. He didn't account for how much of a drain this half form would take on his reserves and he was feeling the effects.

Naruto jumped away from The Beast and let his still unnamed technique drop. He was panting slightly and had a blood leaking from his mouth. He didn't know if that happen when he rescued Lisanna or at some point during the fight. This was really a pain. He couldn't use anything lethal or his cutting attacks in fear of killing/maiming Elfman. It was too big to use most of his blunt force attacks.

That was why Naruto had tried using his new technique. He was hoping to land a solid knockout blow with a wind encased fist but even when he did land a solid punch The Beast was far to resistant to go down so easily.

Naruto created a couple of clones and sent them at The Beast again. This time they didn't do nearly as well and were destroyed as soon as they got into range of The Beast. That moment distraction was all Naruto needed to get into the monster's blind spot.

"_Rasengan!"_

The attack hit The Beast in the side of the jaw and sent it spiraling into a nearby tree. There, that should do it. There was no way it was getting up after taking a hit like that to the jaw. Naruto walked up to the destroyed tree so he could fish out Elfman's unconscious body when a large foot caught him in the gut.

Naruto stumbled back and looked with wide eyes as The Beast not only got up but used the broken tree as a club to hit Naruto across the field.

"Naruto-kun! I have to help him, let go Mira-nee!"

Despite being injured Mira wouldn't let go of the death grip she had on her sister. "I nearly lost you once; I'm not going to lose you here!"

The panic in her voice made Lisanna's expression soften. "But Mira-nee, Elf-niichan needs us, Naruto-kun needs us. You can't fight; I'm the only one that can right now. Please let go."

Everything that Lisanna said was true but she still couldn't bring herself to let go. It was her little sister; she was supposed to protect her, not the other way around. Before Mira could say anything a massive amount of wind burst from where Naruto had landed.

"_Wind Drive."_

It barely came out as a whisper but everyone could hear it. Naruto's expression had changed. He wasn't anger so much as he looked determined, more focused. It was time to end this.

Naruto charged right at The Beast. As it swung down at him he dodged it and latched onto its arm on the follow through. He flipped off of its arm and planted both feet on its face. As The Beast stumbled back Naruto jumped onto The Beast's back.

"_Iron Fist of the Wind Dragon!"_

The attack stunned The Beast only for a second and then it was attempting to pry Naruto off of its back. Luckily for Naruto the creature's arms were too big and it couldn't reach him. He continued to throw _Iron Fists_ at the back of The Beast's head until it was brought to its knees. Naruto formed a _rasengan_ and fused his wind magic with it and aimed it at the back of The Beast's head.

"_Wind Dragon's Rasengan!"_

Dust was blown everywhere and it blocked both Mira and Lisanna's vision. When it cleared they saw a bloodied Naruto standing over a beaten up and unconscious Elfman.

Both sisters ran over to the two injured males. Mirajane went to check on Elfman and Lisanna went to Naruto. As they got close Naruto collapsed into Lisanna's arms. "Heh, told you I'd get your brother back, I never go back on my word. Believe it."

That was the last thing he said before he himself drifted into unconsciousness. Lisanna just smiled down at the mysterious blond that entered her life. "I guess you don't, do you? Thank you Naruto-kun, thank you so much."

* * *

**And there we go with Chapter 4. To be honest I had planned on writing more for this chapter and I did but this just felt like the right place to end the chapter.**

**That being said, I've already started the next chapter and I have spring break coming up so I might be able to get the next chapter out a lot faster than usual, no promises though, just cause I won't have school for a week doesn't mean my job will slow down.**

**There were some parts that I really liked, some I didn't. Overall I thought it was an ok chapter. I tried showing what happened with The Beast mission and this was the only way I could see Mira being beaten by this thing. I don't see The Beast as an S-rank Monster. More like an A-rank.**

**Like always tell me what you liked, didn't like and things I can improve on. I'm always open to suggestions. Flames will be ignored like always. I hope you enjoyed the Chapter, peace.**


	5. The Shinigami's End

**So I'm here a lot earlier than usual and there are two main reasons for that. They're kind of long so if you want to know you can read the AN at the bottom of the page and if you're only here for the story then let's get this show on the road.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail and honestly at this point I don't think that Hiro Mashima should either.**

* * *

Naruto stirred slightly as he let a content sigh escape his lips. He was so comfortable. He couldn't remember the last time he was in a bed this comfy. There was no way he was getting up.

Wait, bed? Why was he in a bed? The last thing he remembered was fighting a possessed Elfman and then passing out. His eyes opening, Naruto bolted straight up in his bed. Looking around he calmed down. He was back in the takeover sibling's inn. They must have taken him back with them after he passed out. Hearing a quiet murmur Naruto turned his head to see that Lisanna was sleeping in the chair next to his bed.

She had a couple of bandages on her face and arms but otherwise she looked fine. It was clear to Naruto from what he saw of the fight that she was a support type of mage. Her older siblings were the heavy hitters. That was fine though. Support classes were usually looked down upon as unimportant by the majority of the magical community because it was assumed that they were weak. Naruto knew there could be nothing farther from the truth.

Support was needed for nearly everything. Mages, soldiers, ninja's, whatever it is support is necessary. The Dragons realized just how important they were, which was why the sky dragons were the number one priority during the war, either to protect or destroy. To say that supports were weak was just wrong and it could lose you a fight. Shikamaru considered himself a support and while he was the laziest person Naruto knew, the guy knew how to fight and if you underestimated him then you may have well just surrendered.

Stretching, Naruto felt nearly every muscle in his body protest the action. Guess The Beast did a bigger number on him then he thought. Looking himself over Naruto noticed that his entire torso had been bandaged. He must have looked pretty rough last night after the beating he took. Looking over at the sleeping girl he smiled. She was obviously the one that patched him up. Her sister couldn't have done it and Elfman would be lucky to even walk after how hard he hit him last night.

Why did she seem to care so much about him? It could be that she was just the type of person to help people but it still felt weird. Growing up he didn't have a lot affection from anyone. He could actually count on one hand the number of people that actively made sure he was ok. The fact that it was a girl around his age made it that much weirder for him. The majority of interactions with girls his age involved Sakura and that never really ended well.

The fact that Lisanna had been so adamant with him staying with her family and making sure he was ok really touched him. He wasn't used to have a cute girl dot over him, it was…nice.

Lisanna began to stir and Naruto looked away quickly. He really didn't want to explain why he was staring at her. "Good Morning Lisanna-chan."

Rubbing her eyes, she looked over at Naruto. He was looking away from her and his face was slightly red, was he coming down with a fever? "Good Morning Naruto-kun, how are you feeling?"

Turning back to her, Naruto saw the concern in her eyes. Naruto's expression softened as he smiled warmly at her. "I feel fine, thanks for bandaging me up; it means a lot to me."

Now it was Lisanna's turn to go slightly red. "It was really nothing; it was the least I could do after what you did last night. Thank you by the way, for everything."

Naruto just laid back down on the bed with his arms behind his head. "Don't mention it, I really didn't do that much anyway. I just wish I would've gotten there earlier so your sister wouldn't have gotten so injured."

"What do you mean you didn't do anything!? You saved my life; you brought my nii-chan back. You saved us all and got beaten to a bloody pulp and you say that you didn't do anything?" Lisanna didn't understand him. If it was Natsu he would be bragging about how strong he was and how awesome the fight was.

Naruto just shrugged at her. "What? You guys protected the town and fought The Beast long before I got there. I'm just happy that I got there before something really bad happened to any of you. I would hate to think about what would've happened if I didn't get there when I did."

Lisanna smiled sadly at the blond. He didn't seem to care about the fight or how injured he was at all. He only cared about protecting her family, about protecting her.

Sitting up, Naruto looked around the room. He had noticed when he woke up that he wasn't wearing his clothes, just some oversized pajama's (probably Elfman's). "Hey Lisanna-chan, do you know wh-"

He was cut off by Lisanna bringing him into a strong hug. His mind went completely blank as he tried to process what was happening. "You really are different, aren't you Naruto-kun? You're so strong yet kind. You don't care about the recognition or even being rewarded. You just do what you think is right, regardless of what may happen. I'm glad I met you."

Naruto slowly returned the hug as he thought about what she said. Did he really have that big of an impact on her? "You make it sound like I'm perfect Lisanna-chan. I'm really not that great. Growing up I was always trying to get attention and I thought way too highly of my own abilities. After I met Tatsumaki that started changing. He taught me so many things that completely changed my outlook on life. One of the first things he told me was that "Those that are strong become arrogant and withdrawn." I've seen what happens to those that stay like that and I promised myself that I wouldn't fall into that category. It's not that I don't care about those things; it's just that there are more important things to worry about. No one is infallible, remember that."

Lisanna just stayed there with Naruto in her arms as she let his words sink in. Something about it made her feel safe, protected. It was like when she was with Natsu, it felt right.

Naruto really didn't know what to do in this situation. He had never had a girl actually hug him before. The closest he had gotten to actual affection from a girl was when Sakura asked him on that "date". He wasn't the brightest back then but even he knew it wasn't a date. This just wasn't something he was used to. On the other hand, he would be lying if he said that he wasn't enjoying the attention.

*Ahem* "Am I interrupting something?"

Lisanna jumped away from Naruto at the sound of her sister's voice. How long had she been standing there? Oh this was so embarrassing!

Naruto just stared at Mira with an annoyed look on his face. She wasn't as heavily bandaged as he was but her head was wrapped up and her left arm was in a makeshift cast. She had a very amused look on her face. Something about that smirk she had on her face made Naruto feel like she knew something he didn't and it bothered him.

"You know Lisanna, I believed you earlier about what you said but I'm not so sure anymore. It's starting to look awfully suspicious."

Blushing profusely at what her older sister was implying, Lisanna's mind couldn't think of anything to say to her sister so she resorted to the one thing that she could do, and that would be yelling.

"MIRA-NEE!"

* * *

After breakfast the takeover siblings and Naruto headed towards the train station to go to Hargeon. Naruto had tried to take off right away and run to Hargeon but they all wanted him to travel with them, well mostly Mira and Lisanna, Elfman had been abnormally quiet all morning. Naruto had objected at first but eventually gave in. The reason why Naruto wanted to run instead of taking the train was because the only other time he had seen a train was back in Elemental Nations when he was in Snow Country. That was an unpleasant experience to say the least.

Naruto was still skeptical about getting on the screaming metal death trap that they called transportation.

"Come on Naruto, just get on the train; stop being such a baby about it." Mira couldn't believe how wary Naruto was being about getting on. After what he did last night she didn't think he would act like this over something so mundane as riding a train. He was acting like he had nearly been run over by one or something.

Naruto gave Mira a deadpan look. She had no idea what he went through with trains before and she wasn't going to find out. If she wanted to go on that thing then all the more power to her, he was much safer on his own two feet.

Lisanna walked over to Naruto and grabbed his hand before slowly dragging him towards the train. "Come on Naruto-kun, everything will be fine. I already paid for your ticket so let's go. I don't want to wait for the one that leaves tonight." Lisanna seriously couldn't figure out why Naruto hated trains so much. Maybe it was a Dragon Slayer thing?

Naruto allowed himself to let Lisanna drag him onto the train. He didn't know why he let her do it but he couldn't bring himself to break away from her. Why was she so nice? It made it really difficult to say no.

Mira watched their actions with a small frown on her face. Lisanna had always been a very caring individual but she only acted like this when she was around Natsu. Regardless of what her sister said, she could see there is something between them and she was going to find out just how much there is.

Taking a booth in the back of the train, Lisanna sat next to Naruto with Mira and Elfman sitting across from them. Naruto was still wary about being on the train but if worst came to worst he could jump out the window so he may as well try and enjoy the ride.

As the train started moving the group fell into a calm silence. Elfman had been quiet all morning, barely even saying a word to any of them. He had been trying so hard to remember what happened after he tried to take over The Beast.

All he remembered was waking up in his bed covered head to toe in bandages with Mirajane sleeping next to him. When he saw that Naruto was with them and almost equally as bandage as he was he knew that he had lost control. There should've been no reason that Naruto had been involved if he didn't go on a rampage. He also came to the conclusion that Naruto was the one to stop him. Mira was out of the fight before he tried the takeover and Lisanna couldn't have stopped him. That begged the question as to how he stopped him.

"Naruto-san, I know I'm in no position to ask this but I must know, how did you stop me last night?"

Naruto turned his head toward the silent man. He barely heard what Elfman had asked him because he was preoccupied with trying to figure out why he was feeling so sick. He hadn't eaten anything weird this morning so why was his stomach trying to empty itself? "You mean Mira didn't tell you?"

Elfman shook his head at Naruto's question. "No, I have been trying to remember on my own but I can't remember anything after I tried the takeover. I would like to hear from you exactly what happened."

Naruto looked over at Mira who was doing a very good job of looking everywhere but at Naruto. Why didn't she tell him anything? Not that it really mattered but it was still weird. "Well, I stumbled across you guys while you were fighting and I saw you try and save your sister. I intervened when I saw that you lost control of the takeover and were about to go on a rampage. From there it really wasn't much; I just beat you down until you lost consciousness and turned back."

That explanation was so… useless. Elfman figured out all of that just by looking at himself and Naruto when he woke up. Undeterred Elfman pressed the issue. "I kind of figured that much out. I was hoping for something a little more concrete. What type of magic did you use?"

"I use wind magic as my primary magic. It was pretty annoying because I was trying not to maim you but it all worked out in the end." Naruto really didn't see the point about knowing how he beat him last night. There were some things about last night that Elfman would be better off not remembering as far as Naruto was concerned.

Wind magic? That was rather odd but not completely unheard of. The real question was just how strong was Naruto? If he was holding back and he still managed to beat The Beast when the three of them couldn't then he must be on a whole other level.

Lisanna was looking at Naruto oddly. Why was he being so vague with his answers? Was there an actual reason why he wasn't telling Elfman everything or was he always this secretive? "Naruto-kun, I was watching you fight last night and I know what I saw, that wasn't just regular wind magic; that was Dragon Slayer magic.

Elfman's eyes widened at that. He had seen Natsu use his magic before and he knew it was strong. But Natsu wasn't stronger than Mira. He was a high B rank mage at best. Naruto didn't look any older than Natsu so how was he so much stronger than Natsu?

Naruto looked at the youngest sibling with wide eyes. How could she know what Dragon Slayer magic looked like? Dragon Slayer magic was a lost magic because there weren't many people that knew about it, let alone that could use it.

The look on Naruto's face nearly made Mira laugh. His shocked face was priceless. "Don't be so surprised, we have a Dragon Slayer in our guild, maybe you heard of him? Natsu the Salamander."

Naruto hadn't heard of him, to be fair though he hadn't heard of any current famous mages. By his title alone Naruto could guess who taught him. "Actually I haven't heard of him. What element does he use?"

"He's a fire Dragon Slayer. His goal is to become a great wizard so he can find his father. Do you know anything about a dragon named Igneel?" Lisanna knew it was doubtful that Naruto would know anything about Igneel but she had to ask. Natsu was usually good at hiding it but she knew that he was still hurting from Igneel abandoning him and she would do anything to try and heal that wound.

Naruto did know about Igneel, he was the last of the once populous fire dragons; strong and very prideful. According to Tatsumaki, Igneel had become arrogant as he grew to maturity and for that the remaining dragons didn't think very kindly of him. Hopefully his son didn't acquire that particular part of Igneel's personality. "I know a little about Igneel but nothing that would aid Natsu in finding him, I'm sorry."

Lisanna frowned slightly at Naruto's words. She wasn't expecting him to know anything about Igneel but that didn't mean she was happy about it.

Naruto didn't like to see Lisanna look like that. It just seemed wrong to him to see her that sad. "So this Natsu, what's he like?"

Lisanna's entire demeanor changed at the new question. "The best word I could use to describe him is wild. At times he can be completely random, no one really knows what he's going to do next, not even me. I really like that about him. He keeps things from getting boring at the guild and he'll always be able to cheer you up, it's something he's really good at. He's also very protective of everyone at the guild. He would do anything for his guild mates. That's probably my favorite thing about him."

Lisanna continued talking about all of Natsu's qualities, good and bad. The more she talked the more Naruto could see just how much Natsu meant to her. Naruto laughed when she told him about how Happy was born. It wasn't the fact that a cat was born out of an egg that made him laugh. No, it was the image of a wimpy, introverted Elfman that made him laugh. The giant of a man just looked away with a faint blush on his face when the story was brought up and that just made Naruto laugh harder.

"So Naruto, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself? We really don't know anything about you except that you're a Dragon Slayer."

Naruto looked at Mira and then at the other two siblings to see that they were both equally interested in what he had to say. "Well what do you want to know?" In all honestly it was a rather vague question and there were some things that Naruto really didn't want the takeover siblings to know.

"Oh how about you tell us about your father, Tatsumaki was his name right?"

Shaking his head at the younger girl, Naruto corrected her. "No Lisanna-chan, Tatsumaki wasn't my father. He found me a couple of years ago. I was pretty messed up from a fight and he healed me. After I was healed he offered to teach me and the rest was history. I only left his cave about two months ago. He taught me so much; he was an amazing master, even if he was a little strict."

Naruto's words turned solemn for a moment towards the end but only Mira picked up on it. Something clearly happened before Naruto left Tatsumaki's cave. If the way Naruto was talking about Tatsumaki in the past tense was any indication then Mira would say that he was dead. As hard as abandonment must hurt the death of a loved one was even harder.

Lisanna and Elfman didn't remember their parents very well but Mira did. When they died Mira had cried for weeks in solitude. She had to put up a strong front and keep what was left of their family together. Once they were found by master Makarov things got better but the wound never fully healed; wounds of the heart seldom do. Even though he said that he didn't see Tatsumaki as a parent is was clear as day that he loved that dragon. He must be going through what she had.

Another thing that bothered Mira about Naruto's explanation was the time frame he was providing. Natsu said that Igneel left him five years ago and Naruto said he only met Tatsumaki in the last two years. No one had seen a dragon since X777. The question was how had Naruto even found a dragon and why was he wounded? She swore that his answers left more confusion then the unanswered questions.

The latter question was what bothered Mira more than his mysterious time frame. He was far too nice of a guy to let him suffer on his own like she did. "So Naruto, you said that you left where you lived. If you don't have anywhere else to go why don't you come back to Fairy Tail with us? I mean there's always room in the guild for someone like you and it would be pretty easy to set you up with a place to stay."

Hearing Mira's idea put a massive smile on Lisanna's face. "That's a great idea! The guild would love you. I bet you and Natsu could be really good friends too, you know with being taught by dragons and everything."

Naruto really didn't know if he wanted to join a guild. Sure they sounded fun and everything but he had things to do, mainly to try and find something that could take him home. All the power in the world wouldn't help him if he couldn't channel it into something that could cross dimensions. "It's true that I don't have anywhere to go and I appreciate the offer, I really do but I have some things that I have to take care of first before I even think about joining a guild."

Lisanna was saddened by what Naruto said but Mira wasn't going to be deterred so easily. "What could you possibly have to do? You said it yourself that you don't have anywhere to go. Why don't you join the guild and then go do whatever you need to do? It's nice to be able to come back to place with friends and I wouldn't mind having another strong mage in the guild. Also, I bet Lisanna would absolutely LOVE it if you would join."

Lisanna had to look away from everyone in an attempt to hide her blush. Why was her sister being so mean to her lately? The way she kept implying things like that, what was Naruto going to think? "Mira-nee is right Naruto, you can do whatever it is you need to do and still join the guild. I wish you would consider it, it would really mean a lot to me. Not the way you're thinking Mira-nee!"

Naruto looked between the two sisters. Mira had a shit eating grin on her face while Lisanna was glaring daggers at her. They would randomly do this ever since he had woken up this morning. He literally had no idea what was going on. "Look, I'm touched that you guys want me to join but I really do have some things I have to do first. I actually promised that I would help a friend with a problem in Hargeon. Apparently he has a rich friend that needs protecting or something and he thought I'd be helpful. I'm already a couple days late so I really don't have time to go to Magnolia."

Mira didn't have a comeback for that. If he already promised to be somewhere then there wasn't much she could do. "Well why don't you come to Fairy Tail after you finish your mission? It's not hard to find once you get to Magnolia."

She was really determined to get him to join wasn't she? Naruto didn't see any way to get her to stop unless he conceded something. "How about this, because I don't know how long the job is going to take I'll try my best to visit when I have a chance. It's a bodyguard job and it won't end until the person that's after the guy is caught so it could either be done by tonight or a month from now."

The takeover siblings seemed to accept that answer. Pestering him over and over again wouldn't do any good and he already made a promise to do a mission, they could respect that. "So who are you supposed to protect? There aren't that many incredibly wealthy families that live in Hargeon."

Naruto looked at Elfman strangely. Naruto could tell that the man was still distracted by whatever it was on his mind. It looked like he was trying to add to the conversation just so they wouldn't worry about him. "Let's see, I know the old man told me before I left… Ah! The Lobster family. That was who I was supposed to go to."

Mira let out a whistle. "Damn, the Lobsters are one of the richest families in Fiore, second only to the Heartfilia's if I remember right. How did you land a job with them?"

Naruto shrugged at the older girl. "Circumstance really. I helped out a village that was having an issue with some Vulcans and a Lizardman and the mayor of the town mentioned that his friend needed help. I had no idea that they were that rich, just that they had a decent amount of money. Looks like I'll be getting a decent pay check, ne?"

Lisanna laughed at Naruto's carefree expression. He lands a job with one of the wealthiest members of the country and he just makes a joke about it. She didn't think she would ever get used to that. "Do you know any of the other specifics about the mission? A bodyguard for an indefinite amount of time isn't really a lot to go off of."

Naruto shook his head negative. "All I really know is that the daughter broke up with a guy and the guy turned into a jilted lover and actually hired a dark guild to kill her. I understand being depressed that she broke up with you but to hire someone to kill her? That's just messed up."

Lisanna shook at the very thought of it. "That's beyond creepy. That's probably why she broke up with him. He was probably too clingy and she wanted out. I don't blame the girl."

Mira had to agree. That was pretty creepy. After a couple seconds of thinking about it another idea popped into her head and a devious smile crossed her lips. "Yea that is pretty creepy. Though maybe the girl cheated on him or started liking another guy and he got really jealous. You know some guys can get really protective over girls. Obviously trying to kill her is way over the deep end but it might not be his entire fault."

Lisanna was glaring at her sister. It would've been a pretty good point if she hadn't been staring at her the entire time she was talking. Was she implying what she thought she was implying? It was kind of fun before with what she was doing but now she was taking things way too far.

Lisanna was going to say something to her sister but before she could the train came to an abrupt stop as they reached their destination.

"Oh sweet Kami, we finally stopped!" Naruto practically yelled as he got out of his seat. Seriously, that entire ride was hell for him. He had never gotten sick a day in his life but the moment that stupid train started moving his stomach started trying to kill him. He was never getting on one of these things again.

The three siblings gave Naruto an odd look as he started stretching. It was so weird because this was exactly what Natsu did every time he got off a train; maybe it really was a Dragon Slayer thing.

"Hey Elfman, Lisanna. Why don't you guys go get our tickets for the train to Magnolia? I'm still pretty sore from last night and I want to keep these seats, they're really comfy."

Elfman slowly nodded his head. He knew that what Mira had said was a bold faced lie but she must've had her reasons and he really wasn't in the mood for arguing. Lisanna looked ready to argue before Elfman put a hand on her shoulder. "No problem nee-chan, C'mon Lisanna."

Naruto watched as Elfman dragged Lisanna away. It was odd that Mira would do that but something must have been bothering her if she wanted to talk to him alone. "Why did you do that? I really doubt that you're that sore that you can't walk."

Mira just nodded her head silently. "I thought it was obvious, I wanted to talk to you alone about a few things."

"Well you have me alone, what did you want to talk about?"

Naruto watched as she began to fidget and bite her lower lip. Was she actually nervous about something? It was weird seeing her act so much like a… well a girl. After seeing her fight last night it was hard to imagine the "Demon of Fairy Tail" act in such a way. It was actually really cute.

"I wanted to say… I wanted to say I'm sorry. About what happened at the inn at dinner. I didn't mean to be so rude to you and I shouldn't have kicked you out the way I did, it was completely uncalled for."

The entire time she was talking to him she couldn't even raise her head to look him in the eye. He wasn't sure if was out of embarrassment or her pride or a bit of both. She clearly wasn't used to apologizing to anyone. "I said it before; I completely understood where you were coming from. You have to look out for your family first and foremost; I don't hold that against you. Forgive and forget."

Mira couldn't believe her ears. Was he really that forgiving? She expected him to say something about her being a bitch and not forgiving her that easily. She certainly didn't expect him to blow off the whole thing like nothing happened.

There wasn't any point in trying to argue with him over it though. If he was ok with it then so was she. "I'm glad that you aren't upset with me over that. Though that wasn't the only reason I wanted to talk to you alone. I'm worried about you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this. She was worried about him? "Care to explain? Why precisely are you worried about me?"

Naruto's tone wasn't upset or even condescending. It was just plain curious. Mira was a little relieved at that because she didn't want him getting defensive on this topic, it was the last thing she needed. "Earlier, when you were talking about Tatsumaki. I noticed the way you were referring to him. You were talking about him in the past tense and the way you acted made me think that he didn't leave you or that you decided to leave. He's dead, isn't he?"

Naruto starred hard into Mirajane's eyes but she didn't back down like she did earlier. He had tried his best to keep the despair out of his voice when he was talking about his former master and he was so sure that none of them had noticed. Obviously he had been wrong. "It's not something I want to talk about Mira-san."

There it was. She could see it in his eyes. She had hit the nail on the head. He was bottling up all of his despair and was trying to crush it. She had done the exact same thing when her parents had died. She knew from experience that someone can't suppress those kinds of emotions for long. The longer they try the worst the backlash would be. "You need to talk about it. It isn't healthy to keep it locked up."

"It also isn't healthy to live in the past, let sleeping dogs lie Mira-san." Naruto hadn't fully come to terms with what had happened yet and he didn't want to have an emotional breakdown in front of someone he hardly knew. Talking to her about it was completely out of the question.

"There's a difference between living in the past and dealing with something that's clearly affecting you. When my parents died I buried all of my sadness deep inside of me. I let it sit there and it festered for years. Then one day I tried a new takeover and the stress that I had been building up came crashing down and I lost control. If it wasn't for Master Makarov I would've destroyed an entire town. Don't drown yourself in your own despair. Regardless of what you think of her, Lisanna cares for you more than she probably should. She would be crushed if you died because you couldn't come to terms with what happened."

Naruto just sat there with his head down absorbing everything she said. It made sense, all of it made sense. Tatsumaki had even told him that death was just another stage of life and greatest insult you could give someone that died was focusing on their death so much that you stop living. Even knowing everything that he did and knowing exactly what he SHOULD do he couldn't. He couldn't get past this. Regardless of what his head told him, his heart's feelings were so much stronger.

Mira got out of her seat and pulled him into a one armed hug. "I'm not saying that you have to deal with this now, I'm just saying that you have to deal with it soon or else it'll hurt you. If not for yourself then for Lisanna, please."

Naruto didn't try to fight Mira as she hugged him, nor did he return the show of affection. He just sat there thinking about what she said. Cracking down on his emotions he finally raised his head and pulled away from the concerned girl. "You're right; I do have to deal with this. Not now though. I have a job to do and I can't be thinking about this when there's an assassin out there. Can you not mention this to either Lisanna or Elfman? I really don't want them to worry about me. If you don't then I promise I'll deal with it as soon as I can, deal?"

Mira smiled warmly at the younger teen. "Deal."

"Mira-nee! Naruto-kun! We're back!"

Both of the older teens turned to see Lisanna waving at them as both her and Elfman walked towards them. That took a really long time to get tickets, not that Mira was complaining.

"So when does the next train to Magnolia leave?"

Elfman glanced at the ticket he just bought. "It leaves in an hour so we have a bit of time."

Standing up and turning away from the group Naruto started making his way out of the train station. "Thanks for everything everyone but I really need to get to my job. I can't stay here anymore. I'll come to Magnolia as soon as I can ok?"

Reaching out to stop him, Lisanna grabbed his arm. "Wait! Do you even know where you're going? We could show you the way to the Lobster's, we've been there on occasion before." Lisanna knew that Naruto had to leave but she really didn't want to see him leave so soon.

"That's a great idea Lisanna, Elfman, show Naruto to where the Lobster's live, I just remembered something that I need to do in town and I need Lisanna's help." Before her younger sister could argue Mirajane pulled her away towards the market district.

"That was… odd." Naruto really didn't have any other words to describe what he just saw. "So it's me and you big guy, want to show me the way?"

Elfman mutely nodded in response to Naruto's question and started walking in the opposite direction his sisters went. It appeared that Elfman was still trying to remember what happened last night. The gloomy atmosphere really didn't sit well with Naruto. If he was left alone to his own devices then he was going to start thinking about Tatsumaki and that wasn't something he wanted to do at the moment. "You should really stop Elfman."

Startled by the sudden outburst Elfman looked at the blond oddly. "What are you talking about?"

"You've been trying all day to remember what happened last night after you failed your take over. Some things about last night are better off buried, trust me on that."

Looking into Naruto's eyes Elfman could tell that he was completely serious. Even so he couldn't accept that. He knew he did something awful but he just couldn't remember! "To be honest, I don't really care what you think right now, I need to know what happened last night. If I'm truly a man then I can take it!"

Naruto sighed at Elfman's attitude towards the topic. He knew that he shouldn't tell him but if he wanted to know that badly then who was he to hold out that information, maybe he really could handle it. "You really want to know what happened last night? All right fine, after you lost control you tried to kill Lisanna-chan. I saved her and beat you into the ground. Happy?"

Elfman spun Naruto around and grabbed him by the cuff of his shirt and lifted him into the air. "You lie! I would never hurt Lisanna-nee! If you're a man you will tell me the truth!"

Looking down into Elfman's eyes with a disimpassioned stare Naruto addressed the enraged man. "I don't have a reason to lie to you. I barely made it in time to take the attack for her and it was a good thing I did. That was a kill shot for someone like Lisanna-chan. I wouldn't make up something like that."

Elfman just stared into Naruto's eyes trying to find any form of deception. Naruto just stared right back without blinking an eyelash. Elfman couldn't see any sign of Naruto lying to him. But that would mean that he really did try to kill Lisanna… How could he call himself a man if he had tried to kill his own little sister? Letting Naruto go Elfman dropped to his knees before bowing his head. He couldn't even look up to meet Naruto's gaze.

Naruto looked down at the devastated man. He could relate, when he went on a four tailed rampage he had injured Tatsumaki rather extensively and he had shut down much the same way. "Elfman, it wasn't your fault what happened. You did everything that you could to save your sisters."

"But that wasn't good enough! I was too weak to save my own family!" Tears were freely streaming down Elfman's face as he yelled at Naruto; the full realization that he had nearly ended his sister's life had finally kicked in.

"Then become stronger. I noticed you can't use a full body takeover without losing control. Train and train until you can. Fight for control over The Beast. If you want it or not it's a part of you now. Train with it until you can fully control it and use its power to help those around you. Become stronger for the one's you love."

Elfman raised his head to see that Naruto was offering him his hand with a sincere smile on his face. Wiping the tears from his eyes Elfman accepted his hand and pulled himself to his feet. "You are a true man Naruto, I'll train harder than I ever had and I'll tame The Beast within myself."

* * *

To say that Lisanna was upset with her sister would be an understatement. "Why did I have to go with you to pick up new missions for the guild? Elfman could've easily done that. I wanted to spend more time with Naruto-kun before we had to leave."

Mirajane didn't even look at her sister as they continued walking through the town. "That's exactly why I asked Elfman to do it. Lisanna we need to talk. I'm concerned with how you've been acting around Naruto."

Lisanna gave her sister a confused look. "What do you mean? He saved all of us, how am I supposed to act? Like he's a nuisance?"

Mira sighed at her little sister. This was going to harder than she thought. "You've been dotting all over him. I know he saved you last night and I couldn't thank him enough for what he did but don't you think you're being a little too… affectionate?"

Lisanna stared at her older sister like she had grown a second head. "I have no idea what you're talking about. He not only saved us but he got really hurt doing it. The least I could do was make sure he was alright. I don't see what's so wrong with that."

"Nothing is wrong with that but you're going over the top. Even if you don't see it I'm sure Naruto does. You're sending him the wrong message. He probably thinks you're interested in him. I really don't care who you date, that's your choice to make but you have something special with Natsu and I would hate to see that get destroyed because you have some infatuation with Naruto."

Lisanna didn't say anything in response to that. Was she really acting like that towards Naruto? He didn't really seem to mind her attention. But she didn't like him like that, did she? He was definitely strong and cute. His personality was great. Anyone that would risk their life to save someone just because they thought it was the right thing to do was definitely a good person. He was also really smart from what he had shown her. Lisanna frowned the more she thought about it. She would have a lot of thinking to do before she got back to Magnolia.

* * *

Naruto and Elfman approached a very large gate that was set aside from most of the town. The house looked to be a good mile inside of the gate. The house itself was more like mansion. Whatever these people did sure paid well. "I take it that this is it?"

Elfman nodded while looking at the impressive property. "This is the Lobster mansion. From what I've heard this isn't even their biggest one. They have a bigger one on their main plantation."

Naruto whistled at that. These people were really loaded. "Well this is where we part ways I guess. Thanks for showing me the way; I don't think I would've found this place without you." It was true; the Lobster's lived way out on the outskirts of Hargeon.

"Don't mention it, it's the least I could do. Don't take too long visiting us in Magnolia. I know my sisters have become fond of you, even if Mira-nee doesn't show it. The next time we meet I'll be much stronger, I promise you that. Thank you for everything."

Naruto watched Elfman leave with a smile on his face. Even though they all had their own little quirks he really liked the Strauss siblings. Hopefully he would see them soon.

Walking up to the main gates Naruto spotted a communication relay. "Hello? Can someone open the gate? I'm here for a mission request."

After a few seconds a picture of what Naruto assumed was a guard came up. "The master of this house didn't request any mission to be done. Please leave the premise."

"I was told he did. Bacchus's father told me that his friend in Hargeon needed help with an assassin and asked me to come, so open the door."

The picture of the guard disappeared for a few minutes before reappearing. "My apologies, we assumed because of how long it took you to get here that you had ignored the request. The Master will meet you at the entrance."

As the gates opened Naruto began to get nervous. The Lobsters were probably going to be angry that he had taken so long to get here. He really did mean to get there faster but one thing led to another and well….

As Naruto walked up to the main doors they seemed to open on their own. Standing just inside of the door was what Naruto assumed to be the head of the Lobster family. He was wearing a brown western style business suit. His hair was a light brown with tinges of gray. He had a full moustache and his face looked like it was chiseled into a perpetual frown.

"I'm glad that you finally decided to grace us with your presence."

Naruto could easily hear the anger and annoyance in the man's voice. "Sorry about that, you see-"

"I care not for your excuses; you've wasted enough time already. Follow me, we have much to discuss."

Naruto silently followed the man. This guy was seriously high strung. That may have something to do with a potential assassin after his daughter though. The man led Naruto into a rather large living room where two women sat on the couch.

The first woman looked to be about the same age as man, clearly his wife. She was wearing what looked like a very expensive gown. It was nice cream color that matched her complexion. Her brown hair extended half way down her back. She had a rather sad frown on her face. Clearly the situation was getting to her.

The other women in the room looked to be around 20 years old. She was average in height and had shoulder length brown hair. She too was wearing a fancy looking gown except that this one was a royal blue. She had a relatively large bust with a decent figure. Naruto could see why Bacchus was pleased with himself after he got kicked out.

The stern man took his place on the couch with his family while motioning Naruto to take a seat across from them. "As you could guess, this is my family; my wife Lisa and my daughter, Michelle."

Taking up the offered seat Naruto addressed them. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry about how long it took me to get here. Some things came up and I couldn't come straight here." It was a rather weak defense but Naruto really didn't want to say that he got lost; he still had some pride left damn it!

"I told you before boy, I don't care about your excuses. While you were off doing god knows what there have been three attempts on my daughter's life. Luckily she wasn't harmed but I've lost two good men because of it."

Damn, Naruto had no idea that it was this serious. This guy had a reason to be upset with him. If only he had gotten here sooner. Before Naruto could respond the older Lobster woman cut in. "It's too bad that Bacchus had to leave so abruptly. I'm sure that he would've been able to handle this horrible assassin."

Michelle turned away from her mother with a small blush on her face while the father pinched his nose. "Yes dear, it was a shame. It couldn't be helped though. His uh… father needed him immediately, it couldn't be helped."

The mother simply nodded at the excuse. It was clear that someone was being left in the dark about some aspects of the situation. "So do you know anything about the assassin? You said that he's already tried to kill your daughter, surely you have something on him."

This time it was the father's turn to frown. "Unfortunately no, he attacks from the shadows and hasn't revealed himself. All we got from the two men that died was that they were run through with some type of blade."

Naruto had to give the guy credit. After three attempts and not giving the target any idea of how he fights other than he has a blade was impressive. "That's… not very helpful to be honest. Is there ANYTHING that you could tell me that might help with trying to stop this guy?"

"The only other information that we have on him is the fact that he's from a dark guild. What truly bothers me is that even though the man the put the hit on my daughter has already been arrested the assassin won't stop. Apparently he was paid in full up front and won't stop until the mission is complete. I suppose even outlaws have their own code of honor, as despicable as it is."

Naruto nodded at that. It made sense from a business stand point. If you were paid to do a job and didn't just because you were paid upfront then no one would hire you. Even dark guilds had to keep a reputation. There was still one thing that was bothering Naruto. "If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you hire a legal guild for this? I know it isn't a money issue so I can't really see a reason why you wouldn't."

"I don't trust guilds, legal or otherwise. They have no true allegiance. They say they're loyal to the magic council and the king but they have shown time and time again that they would gladly go against the established order for their guild. Even then the mages don't even listen to their guild master. When I hire mercenaries or protection agencies then I know what they're loyal to, money."

That was a rather shrewd way of looking at the guild system. To an extent what he said was true. Mages in guilds tended to do what they wanted to for the most part, even when they were ordered not to. Of course that was an over generalization but Naruto could see his point.

"That's not the only reason. All of the legal guilds have a strict no killing policy set forth by the magic council. This is a rule that is usually kept because of how steep the penalty for disobeying it is. Non-guild mages don't have that restriction when doing protection missions. Of course murder is murder but this isn't what you're being hired for. I'm hiring you for one reason; to protect my daughter. By. Any. Means. Necessary."

The meaning of his words weren't lost on Naruto, he expected him to kill the assassin. As a shinobi the thought of killing someone on a mission wasn't a foreign one but it's not something Naruto wanted to do. "I would prefer to capture the assassin, hasn't there been enough blood shed over this?"

The head of the family didn't look impressed. "You don't understand the reality of this world, do you boy? Capturing this assassin won't do any good. That will show the rest of his guild that there won't be any major repercussions to their actions. The attacks will continue to come and with every attempt they come closer to succeeding. If you show them that death awaits them then they won't risk their lives for a mission that they don't have to complete. I want that assassin dead, do you understand me boy?"

Naruto grit his teeth at the man's words. This man's view on the world was far too cynical for Naruto's liking. Did he really think that killing was the only way to resolve this?

"The only reason I'm even allowing you to do this mission is because a good friend of mine vouched for your strength. He never mentioned that your fortitude was so weak. Tell me right now; are you capable of completely this mission?"

Naruto clenched his eyes shut in an attempt to calm himself. This man was so infuriating! But he promised he would help these people and he never went back on his word. Standing up, Naruto began walking towards the door, as he got to the frame he turned his head to look back towards the patriarch. "I'll complete the mission, in its entirety."

* * *

After Naruto had left the main family he was shown around the grounds by the head of the Lobster's personal security force. The grounds themselves were huge. The entire compound was enclosed in a high security wall but that meant little. Any mage that was worth his salt could find their way over a wall, no matter how high it was.

The area was so vast that Naruto had almost instantly given up on trying to find a way to guard the entire thing. Even with the use of his clones, there wasn't any possible way of watching the entire perimeter if he wanted to have any energy left to actually fight.

The same could be said for the mansion. He had seen just how many rooms and different entrances there were. Trying to guard every entrance would be fool hardy at best. That wasn't even considering what kind of magic the assassin was using, that was only thinking about the physical entrances.

This led Naruto to his current situation, sitting in Michelle's room watching her as she brushed her hair. "How many times do you have to brush your hair before bed? It's just going to get messed up by the morning."

Michelle stopped humming to herself as she addressed the young man. "It takes as long as it takes. I wouldn't expect someone of your… stature to understand the importance of maintaining an appearance at all times."

Naruto huffed in annoyance. "Well excuse me for having to travel all over the country by foot to finally get here. I would like to see how good you look after traveling for a month without all your little accessories."

Michelle shook with disgust at the mere thought of it. "I wouldn't be caught dead in a situation that would require that. How could you even stand the very thought of going through something like that?"

Naruto laughed at the indignant tone she was using. "Let me tell you something, when your life is on the line and you could die at a moment's notice you tend forget the little things like bathing. I like being clean as much as the next guy but usually there are more important things that need my attention; at least when I'm on missions anyway."

Michelle began to hum again while brushing her hair while thinking about Naruto's words. When Bacchus had come here he had only talked about all of the awesome things that he did. He talked about how strong he was and all the amazing things he did. It was all in an attempt to impress her of course but it had worked. When she had heard that a young, strong, independent mage that Bacchus and his father had befriended was going to be coming to guard her she thought he was going to be similar to Bacchus.

Naruto was anything but like Bacchus. Bacchus had a big ego but the power to back it up. Naruto didn't boast about his skills, actually, all they knew about his abilities was that he used something called Dragon Slaying magic. Their family was never big into the magical world but the name sounded impressive enough.

Naruto was also very serious about his job. Bacchus had spent most of his time hitting on her and trying to impress her. Granted he was doing his job by protecting her but he didn't seem all that interested in actually finding and beating the assassin. Naruto on the other hand had asked for a guide to show him every nook and cranny of their estate. Of course in the end he had ended up on doing the exact thing Bacchus did but for far different reasons.

Finishing brushing her hair Michelle turned around to face Naruto. "Well? Are you going to leave while I change or are you going to stare at me the entire time?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at her pompous attitude. How was he supposed to know that she was done doing whatever she did before bed? He had been watching her sit there for an hour doing random things. "Yea right, I'll be outside. Tell me when you're done so I can come back in."

Michelle watched Naruto leave. When she said the same thing with Bacchus he had only stared at her and told her he had to stay with her at all times. She didn't have a problem with it though because at that point she had already decided to *ahem* yea.

Michelle quickly changed before crawling into bed. "You can come in Uzumaki-sama."

Naruto walked in with an annoyed look on his face. When she first called him that he told her not to because it just felt weird. After that she continued to call him that just to annoy him. It really was just too easy and he made the funniest face.

Naruto took up his spot in the corner and decided to get comfortable. He was going to be there all night. Naruto started spreading his magic through the air, infusing it within the immediate area. Tatsumaki had taught him how to do this. It was like a spider web of sorts. The magic was still connected to him and anything that would come in contact with the air would set off a warning to Naruto, much like an insect flying into a spiders web. The assassin had been very good up until this point concealing their entire presence. No one had seen or heard them coming before they were killed. It was mere luck that Michelle hadn't been killed yet. Naruto was going to be ready for whoever was after her, if they came inside of his web, he would know.

Michelle watched as Naruto set himself up in the corner. It looked like he was going to fall asleep. She knew he wasn't, he was focusing on something and she could feel it. It was like a warm blanket had washed over the room. She continued to watch him as he sat there, near motionless. "Naruto-sama, why don't you join me on the bed? I don't feel tired yet and I'm sure you have some amazing stories that could entertain me."

Naruto looked at the girl with a deadpan expression. He wouldn't have had a problem with what she was asking other than the way she asked it, seriously, who asks someone like that? Naruto got up from his spot and made his way over to the bed where Michelle was smiling at him. "Well, what do you want to hear about?"

Michelle pouted at the younger blond. "How should I know? You're the one that has been on all of these "life and death" missions. If they're really as dangerous as you say they are then I'm sure they'll be entertaining."

Naruto thought about what he could tell her. She wasn't a mage and she certainly didn't have any knowledge of other universes. He could probably tell her one of his missions (edited of course) back from the Elemental Nations and she wouldn't be any wiser. Naruto decided on telling about the Wave mission because it was Naruto's first "real" mission. He told her about his first encounter with the demon brothers, his oath, the first fight he had with Zabuza. He told her about the condition of the island village and his talk with Haku. He talked about the second fight with Zabuza and Haku. He didn't go into much detail about how he beat Haku, just stating that he was able to overwhelm him after he thought his comrade died.

By the end of his story Michelle had tears in her eyes. The ending with Zabuza and Haku was so sad; it was like a story out of a tragedy. "And that was your first mission? That seemed rather dangerous for someone so young."

"Well to be fair, we thought it was only going to be a couple bandits, not two powerful dark mages. It could've been a lot worse than what it was so I'm grateful that we all made it out alive."

Michelle was stroking Naruto's arm while he was thinking about how lucky they all got back then. Naruto didn't notice when exactly she had snuggled up to him during the story but he really didn't mind. She seemed to have gotten used to him the more the day had gone by and now she seemed relaxed around him. It must be nice to be so trusting, that was something that Naruto hadn't been able to be in a very long time.

"So you mentioned you were on a team and belonged to something called "Konoha", I thought you told my father you weren't in a guild?"

Indeed he didn't. But Konoha wasn't a guild, it was a military village. He may have told her it was a guild to simplify things but still. "I'm not; I left Konoha over two years ago. I hope to go back one day but as of right now I'm an independent mage."

Michelle was curious as to why he left his old guild but didn't want to press the issue; even she could see that there were some things that he didn't want to bring up. "You know, you were right. I thought when you said that some of the missions you took were life and death it was just some bravado to try and impress me. That story you shared with me was far to detailed to be some made up story. I never knew that being a mage was so dangerous."

Naruto didn't know if being a mage was really as dangerous as being a shinobi. For a shinobi, life and death was a daily thing that one had to accept and to try and move on. While there was plenty of death in this world it didn't seem to be such a consistent thing that the people thought about it every day. "The world is a cruel place Michelle-sama. You're protected by your family and your wealth but outside of that terrible things do happen. Consider yourself blessed that you have this life, there are many others that aren't so fortunate. Even these assassination attempts aren't shaking you that hard. I can tell you're scared but you still continue with your everyday routines like normal. Most people with an assassin after them would be more cautious."

"I understand that, I'm not as sheltered as you think. I've snuck out in the past and I've seen a little of what life is like out there. I guess I'm not changing the way I live every day because of the assassin is because I don't see the point. If I worry all day and live in fear then I'll stop living. You have to enjoy life to its fullest."

Naruto could understand that. Her father had done everything that he could do to protect her. There wasn't any point in worrying about something that she couldn't prevent. "I suppose you have a point. Sometimes you just have to enjoy life."

"Being in this kind of work must be stressful, what do you do to unwind after a mission?"

The question was innocent enough but the way she was looking at him and the tone she was using made Naruto swallow a lump in his throat. "I uh… I usually just train I guess. I don't have a lot of down time and the little bit I do have I use to better myself so I'm ready for the next mission. There really isn't a whole lot of extra time in my profession."

Michelle moved herself around Naruto so that she was sitting on his lap with her hand on his chest. "That doesn't sound like a very enjoyable life. Don't you ever live in the moment? Let your instincts take over and allow yourself to enjoy the simple pleasures of life?"

"I… ummm… uh…" Naruto couldn't say anything as the young woman slowly started closing the distance between them. His mind was going blank as she neared him. As she leaned in closer to kiss him, Naruto's eyes shot wide open as he grabbed her and jumped off of the bed.

Seconds after Naruto jumped away from the bed a large blade of wind sliced it half. Naruto rolled with the jump and softly laid the frightened girl on the ground. Turning back to the destroyed bed, Naruto scanned the room for any signs of the attacker. It was weird; he couldn't feel any kind of magical power or even any bloodlust in the air.

"Tch, I was hoping to end you both while you were getting all lovey dovey, looks like you have better reflexes than I thought kid."

A very tall man dropped down from the rafters in the room. He was wearing a large traveler's cloak that completely covered his body. He had wild silver hair that covered the left side of his face as well as two small lines going down his face just under his eyes that each had two small lines going horizontally across the first lines. He held a massive scythe in his hand that appeared to be covered in wind magic.

"I take it that you're the assassin. I'm surprised, from what I've heard about you I expected you to stay in the shadows instead of coming out in the open."

The assassin gave the kid in front of him a once over before answering the question. "I was getting tired of the failed attempts. I had tried the stealthy route before and I always ran into someone right before I could complete the mission so I pulled out. Not anymore, I'm finishing this mission even if I have to bring this entire estate down."

Well wasn't Naruto the lucky guy. The assassin had finally run out of patience and wanted to deal with it head on, that was something Naruto could work with. "Why do you even bother with this stupid mission? Your client is in prison, you already got paid didn't you? Why don't you just walk away?"

The mysterious man laughed at Naruto's question. "What kind of two bit mage do you take me for? If I'm hired to do a job I do it, regardless of the circumstances. Who would pay to use a tool that didn't work?"

Naruto figured he would get a response like that but he had to at least try. "I figured as much, but there's something I need to know. How did you get in here without me detecting you? That shouldn't have been possible."

"You aren't the only one that uses wind magic kid. I could feel your little barrier in the air and I used my magic to slowly filter it out. It took me a hell of a lot longer than I expected. Also this little cloak helped out, it completely seals off a mages magic from the outside world, pretty good for avoiding sensors."

Naruto didn't waste any more time on words with the man. He was going to end this before his opponent even started. Rushing the assassin with blinding speed, Naruto grabbed a hold of the wind mage and threw him out of Michelle's large windows.

The man rolled with the toss and quickly jumped into the air before he stood there, apparently levitating. "Fast aren't you boy? Too bad that won't be enough to help you here. Do you know who I am boy? I'm Erigor of Eisenwald. I'm known as the Death God. I'll reap your soul and then do away with the girly inside."

Naruto didn't pay the newly identified Erigor any mind. Names and titles were just that, they didn't actually mean anything. Naruto rushed Erigor again. Erigor charged his scythe with his wind magic again and sent multiple blades of wind at Naruto. The blades themselves weren't incredibly fast; they were more made for their destructive power than speed. Because of that Naruto was able to weave around the blades of wind and get inside Erigor's guard.

Drawing a kunai and imbuing it with wind chakra Naruto blocked the wind encased scythe that Erigor tried to bring down on Naruto's head. "Heh, you're not bad brat. Tell me something, why are you looking at me like that? The death glare is getting old. What, did I kill someone close to you kid? Nothing personal, it's only business."

Naruto continued to stare at Erigor with anger in his eyes as they struggled for dominance. He had done some research while he was trying to figure out the best way to protect Michelle. He had come across Erigor's file in the list of potential assassins. Naruto hated everything about this man. After his guild was disbanded for accepting illegal job requests he continued to do the assassination missions. It wasn't even entirely for the money; the man had openly admitted in the past that the thrill of ending some one's life was why he did it. "Trash…"

"What was that kid? You'll have to speak louder. I can't hear you over the sound of the wind that's about to shred you to pieces!"

"I said you're trash!" With a show of strength Naruto knocked Erigor's guard aside and planted his fist into the man's gut. Naruto then brought his elbow up and hit Erigor under the chin before doing a spinning kick which sent him skidding across the ground.

Erigor rose from where he landed and wiped away a bit of blood from his mouth. For Naruto it wasn't enough. He had read about how Erigor would completely disregard his comrades if it meant making his mission any easier. He had no moral standing, the only conscious that he paid attention too was his clients, it was all about the money for him.

Erigor wasn't amused. The kid was fast and his punches hurt. He wasn't going to be getting in close with him again. Erigor held out his hand as a large purple magic circle formed in front of him. "You ready to die kid?"

"_Strom Bringer!"_

Naruto felt a shift in the air as the wind started increasing in velocity around him. He quickly jumped to the side and stuck himself to the ground with his chakra as a tornado appeared where he was just moments ago. Erigor saw that Naruto was somehow not being dragged into his tornado and increased the power of it. The tornado began ripping the trees from the ground as its power grew. Naruto's grip was starting to weaken under the new stress. Unlike the last time Naruto had been in this similar situation, he jumped towards the edge of the tornado. Using his own wind magic as a buffer he rode the edge of the tornado, using it to launch himself towards Erigor with amazing speed.

Erigor couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Who was crazy enough to try and ride a tornado? Apparently this kid because he was on top of Erigor in a second with the speed of the tornado propelling him. Naruto sunk his fist into Erigor's chest and he could feel at least 2 ribs crack under the pressure. Erigor himself was thrown back several yards from the force of the collision. Because of this, his control over the tornado faded and the tornado slowly lost its power and dissipated.

"Do you know why you're trash? It's because you would abandon your comrades to make a mission easier. It's because you put money on a higher pedestal than human life. But mainly it's because you don't care about all the suffering you cause."

Erigor stood on shaky legs after that last attack. He had blood freely dripping from his mouth, evidence of a punctured lung. "You don't understand anything brat! You have just as much blood on your hands as I do! You won't admit it but I can see it in your eyes, in the way you move, how you fight. You are a trained killer and you're no stranger to death. Don't you dare get self-righteous on me! Just because you kill for what you assume is justice, what you assume is right. You take comfort in that you tell yourself that it's ok but you're no different than a murderer. Killing someone by any other name is still murder! Don't fuck with me!"

"_Storm Mail!"_

Erigor completely covered himself in his wind magic and charged Naruto with the full intent of separating his head from his shoulders. "Prepare to die brat!"

Naruto calmly watched as Erigor charged him. All he did in response was raise his right arm and catch Erigor's fist in his hand. The tiny blades of wind that composed the armor didn't hurt Naruto, not like he expected them to anyway. Opening his mouth, Naruto began drawing the wind magic off of Erigor's body before eating it. "You're right; killing by any other name is still murder. The only thing that makes us different is that I don't revel in the deaths of those that I kill."

What the fuck did this kid do? Did he just EAT his storm mail? What kind of monster was he? But that wasn't what was infuriating Erigor. This kid's ideology was what was getting to him. "Do you think you're better than me because of that!? Don't make me laugh! You kill for these rich snobs, you kill for your king, you kill for your superiors, the bottom line is that you kill and your hands will never be free of the blood! I was like you once. Back when Eisenwald was a legal guild. Then the Magic Council deemed that the work we did should be illegal and they threw us away! Just wait, someday they'll come for you and you'll be tossed aside just like I was!"

Naruto stared dispassionately into Erigor's eyes. There was nothing he could say to this man. He was completely enveloped by his own hatred of what had happened to him. "Maybe, maybe not. You won't be around find out though."

With that Naruto encased his left arm with wind magic and shoved it straight through Erigor's already damaged lungs. Erigor's eyes widened briefly before they shut for the last time. Naruto pulled his arm free from Erigor's corpse and let the body fall face forward on the ground.

Naruto looked at the dead body with a detached interest; Erigor's words running through his mind. He had always been taught that as a shinobi he had to kill for the village. Kill for missions and the clients when necessary. He was always taught that taking a life, while unfortunate was a necessary part of survival for a shinobi. But did that justify taking a life, no matter how wretched? Was the mission really worth that much more or was he what Erigor called him, a simple murderer?

* * *

**Ok for those of you that want to know why I'm here so early there are two main reasons.**

**The first is because I was motivated to get this chapter done because this was the last of the "intro" chapters.**

**The second and main reason is because I'm pissed and rightfully so. This is for the people that read the Fairy Tail manga. If you're an anime only person then it won't affect you because they're canceling the anime on March 30****th**** so you won't even see it.**

**So my fellow manga readers, I feel like we've been betrayed by Hiro for the shit he's been putting on paper recently. The chapter that came out on the 8****th**** was ridiculous. I was beyond pissed. From Erza beating Minerva to Sting's just down right pathetic actions. Hiro literally took a shit on anyone that actually cares about the rules of the universe that HE created. **

**Erza should've lost, period. There was no way conceivable for her to win. She was out of magical power, her leg was fucking broken but then magically she gets enough magical power to equip a new armor that almost no one in history has the power to use? Not only that but the fact that the armor can literally "change the rules of the magical universe to the users whims" is just so fucking ridiculous that I was at a loss of words when I read it. Did Hiro decide to make Erza a god? I missed that memo somewhere along the way.**

**The reason why I hate this so much is because how can someone who has no energy and has their leg broken get up and defeat a person that can affect anything within their field of vision? Hiro isn't following any sort of logic other than Fairy cannot lose no matter how illogical it is. If there was ANYTHING that could explain why then I might be ok with it but all she said was something along the lines of her guilds anger is my anger and then bam, she's a god. The armor itself is a joke and beyond ridiculous so I'm not even going there.**

**Sting had a chance to redeem the grand magic games if he would've actually beaten Fairy Tail, I would've even been ok if he would've taken out a couple of the Fairy Tail members but still lost. But no, he was in a position to win the whole damn thing and literally just said I give up without even fighting. Just everything about the last chapter pissed me off.**

**There was one thing that still gives me hope. The 10,000 dragons coming in and destroying everything and everyone. That promises to be good but I can honestly see Hiro destroying that too. Nothing would surprise me at this point.**

**Now I'm not a Fairy Tail hater, I'm writing a story that takes place in the universe for crying out loud. My problem is that I didn't think that someone that has this kind of fan base and has made this pretty cool manga universe would just decide to go against all logic and just make up rules halfway through. It goes against everything an author stands for.**

**That's why I was motivated to write this chapter so quickly. I want to write something that can get away from the bullshit that's been thrown at us recently. I know for a fact that I'm not the best author out there but at least I can stay true to the laws of the universe I set forth and have everything explained, not just some random bullshit that says the reason is just because I said so.**

**Alright, I'm done, I've ranted long enough on this. If you don't like what I've said about Fairy Tail then you can let me know but I'm not giving up on the series. I've spent way too much time reading/watching to not see it through to the end. Also if you want to comment on the chapter you can lol. Peace out.**


	6. Bonds

**What's up everyone? I got a lot of reviews from the last chapter; I think they're half and half about the story and about my rant lol. I hope I didn't piss anyone off by what I said; I wrote that the day after the chapter came out so I was a bit upset. I'm good now, it's still bull but I'm not upset about it anymore.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail and I wish I did right now so I could stop going to school and racking up so much debt…**

* * *

Last night was a blur for Naruto after he had killed Erigor. He remembered that the rest of the security force had arrived a few minutes after Naruto pulled his arm out of Erigor's chest. They had started asking him questions upon questions about what had happened. Naruto ignored them all and made his way towards the mansion.

Waiting for him at the entrance of the estate was none other than the patriarch himself. He didn't say anything to Naruto but his look did all the talking. All Naruto did was lift his bloodied arm for him to see and said "Mission complete". Again the man didn't say anything but merely nodded to him as Naruto walked past him into the mansion.

He made his way to the guest wing where he was told that he could rest during the day when the majority of the guards were on duty. He hadn't seen Michelle at all the rest of the night; she was most likely being consoled by her mother over her near death experience. It was for the best however, he didn't really want to talk to anyone. Erigor's words were affecting him more than they should have.

The academy had told them that they were going to kill as shinobi. It was a cruel world that they lived in and it was kill or be killed. Even with that they never properly prepared them for taking lives. One little lesson that was briefly touched upon in the beginning of their training wasn't enough to teach them something like this.

In a sense it was a problem of the time they lived it. The majority of shinobi had grown up in a time of war where you learned to get over killing fast. Naruto's generation had been one of the few that grew up in peace time. It was a blessing and a curse really. On one hand you weren't being sent on incredibly dangerous missions right off the bat where the expectation of not coming back was ridiculously high. The down side was that the teachers became lax in some aspects in favor of other ones because the need for Genin in the field just wasn't there.

Erigor had been right about Naruto. He had killed before. The only difference about this time was that he challenged Naruto's view points on why he was killing. There was only two times where Naruto had felt horrible about killing. The first was during the Sand/Sound invasion. When Naruto was pursuing Garra and Sasuke he had run into some Sound ninja. He quickly overwhelmed them with his shadow clones and a barrage of kunai. The attack had incapacitated most of them but Naruto noticed that some of the wounds were fatal.

At the time he couldn't really think about it because he had to find Garra and Sasuke. Afterwards he had dealt with his first real kill. He had gone to Kakashi-sensei about it and he helped him through it. Rationalizing why he had to and getting over it so he could move on. Kakashi-sensei had said one thing that was able to put Naruto's mind at peace. He said that the killing eventually gets easier but the pain from taking a life will never fully go away. The fact that the pain doesn't go away was a sign that they were still human.

Reveling in someone's death and enjoying the pain of other's was what separated shinobi from murderers. Of course shinobi were trained to kill their emotions for their missions but very few could actually achieve this. Kakashi-sensei really helped Naruto get past his first kill.

The second death that had bothered Naruto was when he killed Tatsumaki. It was something that Naruto hadn't even considered to be a possibility.

Naruto had always rationalized killing others because he had to. Either it was for the mission or they were trying to kill him or they were just evil people.

During the sand/sound invasion he was fighting to protect his home. The Sound ninja's he killed weren't necessarily evil; they were just on opposite ends of a confrontation.

He killed the Lizardman because Naruto knew that what it was doing was wrong. Yes, he had been asked to eliminate the threat to the village but that wasn't why he killed the Lizardman; he killed it because of a righteous fury that had built up in him when he had heard the details of the creatures plan. There wasn't a doubt in Naruto's mind that it needed to die.

He even killed Erigor because of his mission. Erigor couldn't even hurt Naruto with his magic. It was such a completely one sided fight that it wasn't funny. Sure the scythe he had could cut him but Erigor wasn't that exceptional with it; his strength came from his wind magic. It was just an unfortunate matchup for the dead assassin. There was no reason for Naruto to kill an opponent that he so easily outclassed. He could've suppressed his magic or used _drain_ on him. There was an assortment of things he could've done that wouldn't have resulted in Erigor's death. Did Erigor's philosophy piss him off? Yes it did but that wasn't why Naruto killed him. He killed Erigor because that was his mission, plain and simple.

Even that Naruto understood and accepted. Tatsumaki on the other hand wasn't any of those things. He never threatened Naruto's home and loved ones. He had never committed horrible atrocities. He never truly threatened Naruto's life. In fact Tatsumaki had done the exact opposite.

He took him in, healed him, took care of him, taught him, given him an incredibly powerful magic and so much more. Naruto would even say that the old dragon had given him the one thing that Naruto had never experienced, love.

And how did Naruto repay such generosity? He killed him. Naruto couldn't wrap his head around how it all turned out. It seemed so surreal; nothing could've prepared Naruto for that day, which was why he ignored it. He refused to allow himself to think about it but this damnable mission brought it to the forefront of his mind.

Naruto was brought out of his musings by the door to his room being opened. One of the mansions many maids walked in. She looked like the picture perfect maid. Average height, shoulder length brown hair, a slim figure and an average face. There really wasn't anything remarkable about her. "Uzumaki-sama, the master is waiting for you in the foyer."

Naruto nodded to the maid and followed her out the door without saying a word. The foyer was on the opposite end of the mansion which was a pretty decent distance for walking. What was only five minutes seemed like an eternity to Naruto, he wanted nothing more than to get out of here; he didn't even care if he got paid anymore.

The maid showed Naruto to the foyer and left immediately after he entered the room. Naruto didn't pay her any mind however because his attention was focused solely on the two men in the room. One was the patriarch, sitting in an expensive looking chair with an annoyed look on his face.

The look wasn't aimed at Naruto however. That look was reserved for the other occupant in the room. He was a tall man, standing at 6'5. He has light brown hair that looked like it was starting to gray. His eyes are a murky blue and his face was wrinkled from age. He's wearing a yellow robe that had intricate marking throughout. The robe parted shortly below the waist which allowed for greater mobility. Underneath the robe he had the same color pants with the same intricate markings. Around his shoulders was a black cape that reached to just below his shins. Holding the cape together in the front was a small pendant. Looking closer at the pendant Naruto realized that it was Fiore's royal emblem. Whoever this guy was had to be pretty important. The man had an amused look on his face as he was looking at the patriarch.

"Ah-hem, you called Lobster-sama?"

Both men turned to the new arrival. The patriarch got rid of his annoyed look and replaced it with his ever present neutral scowl. The newcomer gave Naruto a big smile and walked up to him before giving him a big hug. "So this is the young man that saved my precious granddaughter's life, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Naruto was taken aback by the man's over the top greeting. The man was also deceptively strong considering how old he looked. "Can't…breathe…"

The man quickly let go of Naruto with a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry about that, I was looking forward to meeting the man that saved my granddaughter. I'm Raitoningu Boruto."

Still skeptical of the man Naruto just nodded his head. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, a pleasure, I'm sure."

The man just laughed heartily at Naruto's reaction. "What a fine young man; I heard you had quite the night. Tell me, how did you manage to best this assassin that had eluded my son's guard for weeks?"

"It really wasn't that big of a deal. He attacked when he thought I had my guard down, I didn't. After that I just overpowered him."

At this Boruto narrowed his eyes. "Don't be so modest young man. Erigor was an A-rank mage before he was labeled a dark mage and I couldn't imagine a man like that becoming weaker. You don't have a scratch on you and Erigor had a hole in his chest the size of my arm. Why don't you tell us a little more about what happened?"

Naruto knew that it was a command, not a request. The wording itself wasn't what bothered Naruto; it was how he said it. His tone was challenging, as if daring Naruto to try and argue the points that he made. The way he worded it seemed innocent but anyone that could read between the lines could tell that there was more there. This was someone that obviously had experience in politics if he could so easily convey his true intent behind such innocent terms. Who was this old man?

The Patriarch of the house kept looking between his father and the younger man. It seemed that they were having a bit of a standoff. This was why he didn't like getting involved in the magical world. When it came to mages it was always a battle of pride. The younger man was being as defiant as he could in front of his father but he would break, they always did. His father is a man that always gets what he wants.

Naruto didn't want to relive that night just so this old guy could have a little more clarity about what happened. "What's the point? He was an assassin, he targeted your family and I killed him. I don't see why you need to know any more than that."

Boruto's eyes shined with amusement. This was a feisty one. "There are lots of reasons actually. Incredibly strong mages that are completely undocumented are rare indeed. I'm interested as to what magic you use as well. My son isn't the best person to ask about magical affairs you see. He said that you use Dragon Slaying magic, I'm sure he was mistaken."

"Maybe you should trust your son a little more then. He wasn't mistaken; I use Wind Dragon Slaying magic. That's why I wasn't injured against Erigor. His wind magic was strong but it wasn't strong enough to cut through the scales of a wind dragon." Naruto knew he was being a little abrasive towards the man but he really didn't care. Last night had put him in a rather foul mood and something in Naruto's gut told him to be wary of this guy.

If Naruto's attitude was affecting the man he surely didn't show it. He merely took a contemplative look while shutting his eyes. After a few minutes he opened his eyes and gave Naruto another once over. "It would certainly explain how Erigor was defeated so easily. That being said, I feel you give yourself far too little credit. Even if your magic trumps his; the fact that you were able to kill him says something about your skill. Don't worry about reprisal for your actions. The no killing law is only enforceable to legal mages. As far as I know, you aren't known by anyone, are you?"

Naruto shook his head in the negative. He didn't know what this guy was getting at but he wasn't sure he liked it.

"You know; if the magic council would get a hold of this information who knows what they might do. Erigor was a problem for sure but they might not be so understanding of your actions. They have a strange way of looking at things and they rarely make exceptions to their rules."

Naruto stared hard at the older man. The meaning of his words weren't lost on him. A younger Naruto might have missed what he was implying but not anymore, Tatsumaki had taught him better. "So what would you suggest? I wouldn't want the Magic Council hunting me down."

The anger was easily detectable by everyone in the room but Boruto merely smiled at the younger man. "Well if I had to give my council on this matter, I would say that you might want to align yourself with someone from the Royal Court. The Magic Council's reach is far indeed but even they can't touch you in Crocus."

"And let me guess, you just happen to be a member of the Royal Court?"

Boruto's smile grew even larger. "I knew you were a smart lad. Yes, I'm the magical advisor to the King. I spent many years on the Magic Council before taking my current position. If you're interested, I would take you under my wing. You wouldn't have to worry about the Magic Council if you would come with me."

Naruto growled lowly in his throat. "So my options are to either come with you and serve you or spend the rest of my days running from the Magic Council?"

Boruto stared Naruto in the eyes for a few minutes before he burst out laughing. "No my boy, not in the slightest. I would never inform the Magic Council about what you did. It's true that they would hunt you down and get an explanation from you but they would only give you a warning. I was merely offering you a chance to come to Crocus and live in the Palace. You see, Dragon Slayers are incredibly rare, even rarer are ones that don't belong to a guild. I've been looking for an apprentice for quite some time now and you seem plenty strong already. Under my tutelage you would only become stronger. Not to mention that you'll be able to meet some very influential people and it never hurts to have connections."

Naruto thought about what the man said. It was an interesting offer to say the least. Naruto didn't like how Boruto could mix words to make it seem a lot darker than what it actually was but everyone had their quirks, maybe his was playing mind games? "I need to know something, why me? There has to be something more to it than me being a Dragon Slayer."

"You saved my little granddaughter; I owe you a debt that I couldn't possibly repay. The measly amount my son is paying you isn't nearly enough for your actions. This way you would be getting something more worthwhile than just money."

Naruto could tell the man was being sincere in his request. No matter how well he could mince words there wasn't any hiding the genuine love he had for his family. It was something that he had seen before in parents, it was always a feeling that he wanted directed towards himself. "Well I could come with you to Crocus at the very least; I've always wanted to see the capitol."

Boruto's eyes lit up at Naruto's decision. "I'm glad to hear it. We'll leave right away; it's a long trip to Crocus. I'll have one of my attendant's take care of the mess here."

* * *

The trip to Crocus wouldn't have been that long if Naruto had been able to run but Boruto had insisted that they take his carriage. Apparently there were some things that he needed to inform Naruto of before they got to the Castle.

The first thing was that there were going to be some important diplomats coming from Bosco. Over a hundred years ago, when Fiore declared itself a neutral nation they had made an agreement with the Countries of Bosco and Seven. The treaty involved that they would defend Fiore from militaristic invasion from other countries while Fiore would handle the majority of the magical issues between the three countries.

Only ten percent of the world's population could use magic but nine percent of that ten lived within Fiore. With only one percent of magic capable people spread throughout the entire world the use for magic outside of Fiore is near nonexistent thus when a magical issue arises Fiore is called. Now was one of those times. Boruto wouldn't go into details about the exact cause of this visit but he said it was deathly serious for Bosco to ask for aid.

The second thing that Boruto had to inform Naruto of was the current policy of the palace. Because of the expected visit from Bosco things around the palace had become incredibly strict. One thing that Naruto learned was that the King valued appearance above all else. He said that things would become more lax once the dignitaries from Bosco left but for now he would have to follow the rules to a T.

For the most part that didn't bother Naruto; he didn't plan on staying there that long to begin with. He would see the castle, meet some important people and probably leave within a day or two.

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts as the carriage passed over a small bridge and entered the capitol city. The city was massive! Konoha had nothing on this place. There were merchants everywhere trying to sell their goods to the masses. Street performers littered the streets trying to earn a quick buck. Children were running around the roads playing an assortment of games and just having a good time. The one thing that Naruto noticed more than everything else that was happening around him was the fact that these people looked genuinely happy. It was as if he was back in the streets of Konoha watching as the villagers go about their daily lives. It brought a small smile to Naruto's face.

Boruto had been watching Naruto's reaction as they traveled through the city. It was always amusing to watch new comers' reactions to the capitol; it wasn't called the kingdoms most beautiful city for nothing. "Naruto, if you think that this is impressive then you haven't seen anything yet, just wait till you see the castle."

And wait he did. When the castle came into view Naruto was amazed. The castle was located in the center of the city and was sealed off from the rest of the city by a large wall. Inside the wall Naruto could see a rather large garden that made a smaller circle inside of the first outer wall. Past the garden was the main building which had multiple spires shooting up from the castle. The majority of the castle and the spires were covered in both gold and ivory. The closest thing to this that they had in Konoha was the Hokage building but that was nothing more than an office building.

The carriage stopped in front of the castle gates and both Naruto and Boruto stepped out of it. "Welcome to Crocus Naruto-kun, I hope it lived up to your expectations."

Naruto just nodded to the older man as they made their way through the courtyard. If he wasn't following Boruto then Naruto could've easily gotten lost through the giant maze that they called a garden. It was beautiful of course but it seemed to be a tad bit… excessive.

When they entered the main hall of the castle Naruto wasn't expecting to see the bustle of activity that was there. There were officials running all over the place seemingly getting things ready for some event. Guards were also in the fray helping moving things around and aiding really anyone that needed it. Overall it was pandemonium.

"You'll have the excuse all the chaos Naruto-kun. The dignitaries from Bosco are supposed to arrive tonight and we're having a dinner celebration to welcome them. It usually is far more peaceful here." Naruto acknowledged the statement with a simple nod as they worked their way through the bustle of activity.

Boruto walked up to one of the guards that were assisting in preparing the main hall. "Arcadios-san, staying busy I see?"

The man put down the crate he was carrying and addressed the newcomers. "Raitoningu-sama, welcome back. Yes things are quite busy at the moment. I'm assuming you're looking for the King. He's in the throne room at the moment. He's been waiting for your arrival for some time now."

Boruto had the decency to look sheepish. "Yes well I know I said I would be back sooner but I think the trip was worth the wait. I would like to introduce you to someone. This is Uzumaki Naruto, the man that saved my granddaughter."

The newly dubbed Arcadios gave Naruto a questioning look. Arcadios was a relatively tall man, not as tall as Boruto but he was still slightly taller than Naruto. He has green eyes as well as a very tan complexion with dark brown hair. His sides went all the way down his face and met his beard which was pointed at the end. His nose was stubbed almost as if a sword had chopped it off. He wore a standard suit of armor for the knights of Fiore except for the white cape that ran down his back. The only thing that was odd about the man was the fact that he didn't have a sword on his person.

Naruto extended a hand to the man he had been introduced too. "It's a pleasure to meet you Arcadios-san; I've always wanted to meet one of Fiore's Holy Knights."

Arcadios's eyes widen momentarily at the blond's words before he schooled his features and shook Naruto's extended hand. "A pleasure, I'm curious though, how did you know that I was a member of the Holy Knights of Fiore?"

Naruto merely grinned at the man. "Fiore's Holy Knights have always worn white capes to show their status and skill while the red cape is reserved for the Squadron Chief. It's been that way since Fiore's been established, or am I mistaken?"

Arcadios couldn't believe what he was hearing from the blond. It wasn't as if it was a massive secret or anything but that wasn't knowledge that one possessed just from a little light reading. The order of the Holy Knights went back for at least 300 years and only members of the military and the Royal Court really bothered to learn anything about the order.

Boruto merely laughed at Arcadios's expression. "It seems you're more than just brawn Naruto-kun, I like that. Come, you can talk with Arcadios later. I have business with the King and you're coming with me."

Naruto waved goodbye to the still stunned knight as they walked past him. They walked in silence as they made their way through the massive hall. They quickly made their way to a set of large doors that were guarded by two regular knights. Upon their arrival the guards didn't say a word as they opened the doors to the throne room.

The room looked like what one would expect from a throne room, the walls were covered in tapestries and expensive looking paintings. The room was very large but didn't have much in it except for two thrones, one slightly higher than the other. Leading up to the thrones was a long red rug.

The room was completely empty except for the two people sitting on the thrones. On the taller throne sat a very short middle aged man. His hair is brown and short. His attire consists of striped overalls, a belt that holds up the overalls and a purple regal cape.

The person sitting on the shorter throne was a young girl that looked to be around Naruto's age. She has shoulder length green hair that had two strands framing her face. She was average height and had a slender build. She was wearing a strangely simple white gown that showed a small amount of cleavage from her slightly bigger than average chest and hugged her figure well. Her eyes resembled emeralds with the way they shined and their color. She had a rather bored look on her face as her the man next to her talked to her.

As the two mages walked approached them the man stopped talking to the girl and gave a huff. "You said that you would be back by early morning Boruto, not halfway to sundown."

Boruto adopted an apologetic look at the King's words. "I'm deeply sorry Toma-sama but the trip to Hargeon took longer than expected. When my son told me that he had news on the assassin and that I should come straight away I hadn't known what to expect. Luckily it turned out to be good news. The assassin had been defeated."

The King's look turned from one of annoyance to one of interest. "So the assassin has been captured then? That's good to hear. Anyone that is capable of causing this much trouble is someone that I don't want in my kingdom. So tell me, who was it?"

Boruto sighed at this. "It was Erigor from the disbanded guild Eisenwald. He was an A-rank dark mage and very dangerous. When I arrived he was bound and knocked out. The problem was that I didn't have anything capable of sealing his magic for the long trip to Era. He was too dangerous to be left with the small escort that I had and I couldn't waste the time to do it myself due to the circumstances here. With that in mind I did the only logical thing, I killed him. I hope that won't be a problem."

The King hummed in thought at Boruto's words. "No, I can't see that being much of an issue. If I recall correctly Erigor was a blood soaked assassin, his sentence would've been life in prison at best once the Magic Council got around to it. I'll send a message to the Magic Council informing them of this development. I'm assuming that you sent the body to Era for them?"

Boruto shook his head negatively at the King's question. "I'm afraid not, you know how my magic is. Sometimes it just… slips. They wouldn't be able to recognize the corpse anymore, let alone discern anything from it."

The King frowned once again at Boruto's words. "You went overboard again, didn't you?" The King took Boruto's silence as admitting to his guilt. "Boruto you should know better than to let your feelings cloud your judgment. Though I can understand, if someone dared to try and kill my dear Hisui-hime I would do the same thing. You know the Magic Council won't be happy about this."

Boruto smiled at his King's words. "Oh of course they won't be happy. When they send their replay just say that they should do a better job of handling their guilds and dark mages so I don't have to get involved. This is their fault after all. If they would've done their job correctly Erigor would've been in prison years ago."

The King nodded at Boruto's explanation. "Yes I do suppose you're right. Perhaps I'll give them a warning about letting dangerous dark mages go free for so long. Though I'm curious about who the young man accompanying you. You usually don't bring back stranglers on your trips."

Boruto put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and smiled proudly at him. "This is the young man that defeated Erigor and saved my granddaughter. I brought him along because I was thinking of taking him as my apprentice; you know how long I've been looking for one."

The King's eyebrows rose in surprise at that. "So young and yet strong enough to beat someone like Erigor. I understand your interest in him. Speak boy, what is your name?"

Naruto was caught off guard when he was addressed. He honestly wasn't paying attention to most of the conversation between Boruto and the King. He was more interested in the young girl that was sitting next to the King. She too seemed to be ignoring most of the conversation in favor of inspecting him. It was like she was trying to solve a puzzle and couldn't figure out where to start. "Uzumaki Naruto your highness."

"Uzumaki…Naruto. That's a very strange name; I haven't heard anything like it. Where do you come from?"

"I was an orphan from the land of Seven. A few years ago I was found by a Dragon and he took me in and trained me. I would consider Fiore my home more than Seven though, I have no good memories of that place."

"I see. A dragon you say? That's quite a tale to tell. You wouldn't lie in front of your King, would you?"

The pensive look that the King was giving Naruto made him uncomfortable. He obviously didn't believe him. Luckily Boruto came to his defense. "I assure you my liege, he speaks the truth. He defeated Erigor soundly with Wind Dragon Slaying Magic. You know the legends, those that were trained by a dragon become immune to that dragon's element. It appears the legend is true because he didn't have a scratch on him when I arrived this morning."

The King seemed to accept Boruto's explanation. "Very well, welcome to Mercurius Naruto-san. I do hope Boruto explained to you what is happening this week and that I will not tolerate any disruptions. Am I understood?"

Naruto bowed slightly towards the King as a small sign of respect. "Of course your highness."

"Boruto, we have much to discuss about tonight and the following events. I cannot afford to waste any more time. Call a servant and send your apprentice to the guest quarters while we discuss things."

"Actually your majesty, why don't we have Hisui-hime show Naruto around Mercurius? He hasn't been here before and I'm sure she's tired from all the political talk that you've been throwing at her. Isn't that right princess?"

Hisui looked like a deer in the headlights when all eyes in the room turned to her. Her face heated up and she couldn't really meet anyone's gaze. "Well I have been sitting here all day… I wouldn't mind showing Naruto-san around the castle."

"Splendid, Naruto, take good care of our princess. She'll be your responsibility. You'll be like her knight."

Hisui blushed at what the older man was implying while it flew right over Naruto's head. The King gave the mage an annoyed look. "Boruto, I wish you would stop playing your little mind game all of the time. That's enough, Hisui-chan, please take Naruto-san with you and show him around, I'll be busy with Boruto for quite a while."

"Yes Otou-sama." Hisui gracefully left her throne and moved pass the two mages and towards the exit without saying a word to them. Naruto took the hint and slowly followed after her.

As the door closed the King let out a loud sigh. "Boruto, you will be the death of me, do you know that?"

Boruto let out a loud laugh at his king's words. "Don't say that your majesty, if I wasn't around things would be boring."

* * *

Naruto was wondering what was with this girl. In the throne room she seemed nice enough but now it was like she didn't even care that he was there. She had just kept walking forward through the castle without saying a word to him. "So Hisui-hime, are you going to actually tell me where we've been going? This place is huge and I seriously have no idea how I would even get back to the throne room."

The princess seemed to stiffen at his words but other than that she didn't acknowledge him and just continued to walk forward. Naruto tried again and again to try and get her attention but every time she would ignore him and continue to walk randomly around the castle. Eventually Naruto became fed up with this game and ran in front of her, forcing her to acknowledge him. "Ok so I've been following you for over an hour and you have yet to say a word to me. If you have that much of a problem with me than just take me to the guest quarters."

Hisui seemed stunned for a moment when Naruto confronted her before she looked away. She looked like she was struggling with something. Soon tears started forming at the corner of her eyes as tried to muster up some words. "I-I'm sorry. I'm not used to talking to new people who aren't royalty. I didn't mean to ignore you; I just didn't know what to say."

Oh no, this was the one thing that Naruto never wanted to encounter, a crying girl. He had nearly no experience with the fairer sex and this situation was completely out of his league. "Hey don't cry, I'm sorry I yelled. Ummm, why don't we go somewhere else, like your favorite place in the castle? There we can talk a little bit so I won't be a stranger anymore. How does that sound?"

The princess wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded towards Naruto while she started walking again. This time she took him down a set of stairs that led back to the main hall. She continued through the main hall and went out the currently open Castle gate. Instead of going down the path that Naruto had come in on she veered to the left and continued walking into the massive garden that surrounded the main castle. She kept navigating through the massive garden and quickly Naruto doubted that he could find his way out of this maze if he was left alone.

Soon Hisui came to a stop in front of a rather large bush that had multiple blooming flowers on it. What surprised Naruto was the color of the flowers. They were a deep green color, almost like emeralds. "How strange, I've never seen a flower like this before."

Hisui still had her back to Naruto but here she was more comfortable, more at ease. "Aren't they? I saw them once when I went with my father on a trip to Bosco. They're Emerald Roses. They only grow in the harshest environments in the Bosconian Mountains. My father noticed my fascination with the flower and he found a way for them to grow here in Mercurius. They make me feel stronger; knowing that such a frail looking flower can thrive in the harshest environments. That sounds so silly when I say it out loud."

Naruto walked up next to the still distraught girl and looked at the flowers. "Not at all. From what I gather from this place I can't imagine you have a lot of free reign with what you do. Meeting nobles, caring out the proper etiquette required of a princess, never being able to do what you like. That must be hard; it's why I never wanted to be royalty.

Naruto reached towards the bush and picked one of the many roses that littered the plant before facing Hisui and placing it in her hair. "And despite all the pressure and trials you have turned into a beautiful flower, much like this rose. All you have to do is believe in yourself and the rest will come to you. I think this rose is perfect for you."

Hisui for her part was shocked at Naruto's response. She really hadn't known what to expect from him after she opened up about that part of herself. She certainly didn't expect acceptance and understanding. Turning away from him again she whispered "Thank you, Naruto-san."

Naruto didn't get this girl at all. At first she seemed like a calm and collected individual but as soon as you get her alone she became a nervous wreck. Spotting a nearby bench Naruto made his way to it and motioned for Hisui to follow him.

Hesitantly she made her way towards the bench and sat down next to him. "So Hisui-hime, why are you so nervous around me? What, am I scary or something?"

Hisui's eyes widened at Naruto's question. "Of course not! I mean I… I'm not sure I-"

Naruto cut her off before she could try and give an apology. "Relax, it was only a joke, seriously though, why are you so nervous? Just relax and try to enjoy the beautiful day. I'm not an important dignitary; I'm no noble or really anyone of importance. I'm not going to judge you and hold you to the standard that's expected of you. As far as I'm concerned you're Hisui, just a regular girl."

Hisui kept her mouth closed as she looked at her feet. She didn't know what to say to the blond. This wasn't something she was used to dealing with. Maybe just being honest was the best way to deal with this? "And that's the problem. I know how to deal with dignitaries, nobles, important merchants, royalty, even the knights of the castle. I've been taught how to act, what to say. I've never had a conversation with a normal person. I'm not quite sure how to go about it."

Naruto laughed at the girl's admission and she quickly sank in on herself. She really had some self-esteem issues. "Hey now, I wasn't laughing at you. I just thought it was funny because I had the same issue a few months back. I've been living with a dragon for my only company for years. When I finally came back into the real world I didn't know how go about talking with people. Turns out it's actually really easy. All you have to do is be yourself. Once you aren't afraid of what others think about you you'll be able to express yourself. The more you do it the easier it gets."

Hisui looked over at Naruto with a small smile framing her pretty face. "Just be myself huh?"

Naruto smiled at her. "Yep! If you do that then talking with 'normal' people will be easy. Just relax. How about we start right now, what's life like around the castle?"

* * *

Boruto hummed as he processed the information the King had been telling him the last few hours. "Are you sure of this your highness?"

The King nodded somberly at his question. "Without a doubt. Bosco is sending their Holy Templar and Flame Priestess for their ambassadors. You know what this means don't you?"

Yes, he knew exactly what it meant. Even though Fiore had been designated in the treaty between Bosco and Seven to be the nation to handle the magical problems, Bosco rarely ever used that clause and handled their own problems.

The reason for that was two-fold. One was the Order of the Holy Templars. They were the strongest and most skilled knights that their kingdom had to offer. They were strong, fast and absolutely merciless on the battlefield. During the last continental war the Holy Templars held the border between two separate countries during a two pronged siege. They not only held out but forced both of the armies to withdraw before Bosco's main army could arrive.

They were truly fearsome opponents but what gave them their edge in battle was the armor they used. The Holy Templars used the same looking armor as the rest of the kingdoms knights but what set them apart was a white claw on the front of their armor. Their armor had been imbued with the magic of the Holy Dragon of Light. Because of the gift the dragon bestowed upon them they took up the oath to forever serve the interest of the Holy Dragons, to keep the balance of the world. After the collapse of the Great Dragon Empire the Holy Order decided to align itself with Bosco as a way to keep peace while still trying to maintain the tradition of the Dragon that gave them the power to fight.

The leader of the Holy Templars was the only one to have both his shield and sword imbued with the same magic. The armor was different as well, it was pure white instead of the gray that the other knights had. Also in the center of the chest plate where usually a white claw sat was a pure black claw. It was a reminder that where there is light there is always darkness.

The other reason that Bosco rarely asked for assistance was because of the Clergy of the Flame. The name was deceiving in the sense that it wasn't a religion so much as the members studied and near worshipped the Flame Elemental.

Back before the establishment of individual countries there were small groups of people that came together for better defense. One group of people went to a Flame Elemental to learn its magic to better defend themselves. They became known as the disciples of the flame for a short while due to their impressive mastery over fire. After time passed they soon viewed that their magic was of a holy property and believed that their magic had a purifying effect to it. Thus they were renamed the Clergy of the Flame.

The first leader of these flame worshippers was a young woman that had learned the purest form of the Elemental's magic. Her flame was as blue as the Elemental itself and burned hotter than anyone else's flame. The woman had a daughter a few years later and she passed down the same power to her daughter and it soon became tradition that the eldest daughter of the Priestess would take her mother's place as the new Priestess of the Flame.

Between these two factions any king of magical disturbance was easily handled. To send both of them meant that they couldn't handle the situation. That thought was…troubling to say the least. "Did they give any indication as to what they need help with?"

The King huffed at the question. "No, they merely stated that it was an extremely sensitive issue and that they'd be here within a week's time; hardly anything to go by."

Hardly indeed. This was way Boruto hated international politics. It was always so much harder to attempt to fully understand everything that's going on in other countries and thus when something like this happens he's left flat footed with almost no way to prepare himself. Local politics he absolutely loves, it's when Boruto can't properly prepare himself is when he dislikes his trade.

Giving a heavy sigh the King continued to address Boruto. "You know that because of the treaty we have to assist them when they ask for aid and because of whom they are sending we know this isn't some small matter. They'll want a powerful mage to assist them and the only mage that I have at my beck and call that would be strong enough would be you. I hate the idea of losing you for an extended period of time."

Boruto thought silently before he smiled softly. "Yes, the castle would fall apart rather quickly without me around, wouldn't it? Perhaps I won't have to go. Maybe we could convince them to accept taking my apprentice with them. He is certainly stronger than any of the mages at the Castle and I'm sure they wouldn't want to wait for us to call a suitable mage."

The King raised a single eyebrow at the suggestion. "That young lad? I still have my doubts about him Boruto. You only met him early today, what makes you think that he can be trusted enough to handle such a manner?"

Boruto gave the King an uncaring hand gesture. "I have my own reasons for believing in his power. I saw the battle field in where he confronted Erigor. It was torn asunder. Considering that the boy wasn't even injured in their exchange I'm confident that he's at least at a high A rank power level. As for his character, I'm good at reading people and that child is one that values his own word more than his well-being. If he says something he'll do it, I can tell by the look in his eyes. They say that the eyes are a window to one's soul, there's some truth to that, if you know how to look."

The King considered Boruto's words. The man had served him faithfully for decades and had never once led him astray. His judge of character had been impeccable. The young star of his own Holy Knights had been indoctrinated by Boruto. When Boruto first met the young man he was only an urchin boy barely surviving on the streets. When asked as to why Boruto brought him to the castle he answered that he saw something in the boy's eyes that he couldn't ignore. The boy had an amazing drive to improve himself and quickly climbed the ranks within the order of knights. The only thing that out matched his drive was his fierce loyalty to the kingdom. He had shown time and time again that he would gladly give his life for those he was sworn to protect and his comrades.

Perhaps this Naruto would be another Arcadios. "Alright, I'll trust your judgment on this. We'll still have to convince the delegates to accept this."

Boruto smiled towards his king. "Don't worry about that, I'll convince them to take our young Naruto with them."

* * *

Naruto had spent the last few hours speaking with Hisui about a multitude of different topics. He talked about living with a dragon, all of the different things that Tatsumaki had taught him. In contrast she told him about growing up in the castle, all of the things that were expected of her as the sole princess of Fiore.

They shared stories of what they had done. Granted Naruto's stories were far more interesting to Hisui than Hisui's were to Naruto but he still listened attentively. Naruto was glad that she had finally started opening up to him. She seemed so much more relaxed than she was a few hours ago.

"You know Naruto-san; this is the first time that I've ever had a conversation about mostly nothing. Most of the time there's some sort of goal that I have to work for. Talking with someone for the simple sake of talking is…nice."

The smile she gave him made him smile as well. She seemed to be truly enjoying herself. "Hehe, well that's good, I thought that I might have been boring you for a bit. But from the way you said that it's like you've never had a friend before."

Hisui nodded sadly at Naruto's words. "It's true; I've never had a true friend before. I don't consider anyone on the Court to be my friends. Acquaintances, important people that I merely put a smile on for, others that I outright dislike. Never have I had a real friend, my father never allowed it. He was always afraid that something would happen to me if I strayed too far from the castle and he wouldn't let anyone spend extended periods of time with me. Come to think of it, this is longer than I've ever been alone with someone other than father."

Naruto gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Heh, well maybe I'm just special then?"

Naruto knew how she felt. He hadn't had anyone in his life until the last couple of years. Those years of near isolation could do horrors on a person's psyche. Granted she wasn't completely alone but in a way she was. Not having any friends had to have been hard on her growing up.

Hisui gave Naruto a thoughtful look but replying. "Perhaps you are Naruto-san. My father rarely lets me go anywhere without a trusted guard. It's surprising that he sent me away with you."

"From what I saw he seems to trust Boruto-san quite a bit and he was the one that suggested it so maybe that's why? It's not like I'm going to kidnap you or anything."

Hisui giggled at Naruto's attempt at a joke. "No, I don't think you would. So is it true, are you going to be Raitoningu-sama's apprentice?"

A conflicted look washed over Naruto's face at the question. "Honestly? I'm not sure. I mean sure he's nice guy from what I've seen but I don't know if I want to be tied down anywhere right now. I'm searching for something and I won't be able to find it if I'm here learning for Boruto-san."

"What are you searching for? Perhaps I could help you find it? I mean, the palace has a lot of resources to look for things so maybe I could help?"

Naruto looked into her eyes, they were almost… pleading? Was she worried about him leaving right away? Maybe he had underestimated how much she valued their new friendship. "Well it isn't something that simple, I'm not even sure if it exists. It's a magical problem; I don't think I'd be able to explain it very well."

Naruto could explain it very easily if he wanted to but how would that sound? Hi, I'm from another dimension and I'm trying to find something that has the power to send me home. Yea, that would go over well.

Not giving up on the prospect of having someone her age live in the castle Hisui pushed the issue. "If it's a magical problem then you couldn't have anyone better than Boruto-sama as your master. He handles all of the magical affairs for my father and he was a member of the Magic Council. He's also really strong, it's rumored that he's a candidate for a spot in the 10 Wizard Saints."

That wasn't something Naruto knew about. That old guy was that strong? Naruto knew about the 10 Wizard Saints, if he had to compare them to anything back home he would say they were on a Kage's level. "That's… interesting. I'll have to think about it."

After that the pair fell into an awkward silence. Hisui was clearly upset over the thought of Naruto leaving but he didn't want to tell her that he was going to accept Boruto's offer. He hated seeing that sad look on her face though. Maybe there was something he could do to cheer her up.

With that thought going through Naruto's mind he rose from the bench they were sitting on and knelt before Hisui while taking her hand in both of his. "I can't tell you if I'm going to be staying at the castle yet but I can say this." Naruto paused momentarily as if trying to remember something. "I here swear fealty and do homage to the Crown of the Fiore Kingdom. I will protect you, Lady Hisui, with all of myself, be it with my body or soul, for as long as I live."

Hisui was taken aback by Naruto's sudden action. A deep blush crossed her face as she realized what Naruto had done. Luckily Naruto couldn't see it because the sun had set hours ago and the few lanterns that inhabited the garden didn't provide much light. "That was… an oath of loyalty used by our knights, w-why?"

Naruto smiled brightly up at her. "You were sad thinking about me not being in the castle. I hate seeing my friends sad. This way even if I'm not staying in the castle you know we'll always be friends."

Hisui didn't respond to Naruto, she couldn't. An oath of loyalty meant much more than some kind words or even being friends. The oath he gave meant he would lay down his life to protect her and her Kingdom. Maybe he didn't realize the severity of what he had said? "Naruto-san, do you realize what you're saying?"

Naruto continued to look at her with his silly grin. "Of course, I may not look it but I actually know a lot about the Kingdom of Fiore. I meant every word of what I said; I never go back on my word."

Hisui didn't know what to say as he continued to look at her. She had never been in a situation like this before. Sure she had seen the knighthood process done before but the knights were always swearing loyalty to her father, she had no idea how to respond to someone that was doing it for her. "I- Naruto-san-"

"NAURTO-KUN, HISUI-HIME, ARE YOU OUT HERE?"

Hisui nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the voice. "That's Raitoningu-sama's voice! You need to get up Naruto-san!"

Naruto eyed her oddly as he rose from his position on the ground. She was acting like they had just been in some scandalous act."

"Are you sure they're out here Boruto? They could be anywhere in the castle. What makes you think they're out here?"

Hisui seemed confused when she heard the second voice. What was her father doing outside the castle? He rarely ever ventured into the garden.

"Trust me Toma-kun, I've got a good feeling that they're out here."

"Humph, what have I told you about calling me that? I've been the King for over two decades now. You should show me the same respect here as you do in the castle."

"Oh I'm so sorry _your Majesty_, I thought after knowing each other for over forty years I would be allowed to have such a luxury." Even though it seemed like Boruto was mocking Toma there wasn't any malice in his words.

Toma gave Boruto an annoyed look. "You and your melodramatics. Oh and I saw you talking with Arcadios-kun before we left the castle, a good feeling my ass."

"Hehe, you know me too well Toma-kun"

The king and Boruto worked their way through the maze of a garden in search of the two teens. They quickly made their way to the Emerald Roses. Even though the king rarely came into the garden didn't mean that he wasn't aware of his daughter's favorite spot.

Turning a corner the two men came upon the scene of Naruto and Hisui sitting on a bench next to one of the Emerald Rose bushes. "See, what did I tell you your majesty? I knew exactly where they were."

Hisui was the first to react to the newcomers. "Otou-sama, Raitoningu-sama. Do you need something?

The King regarded the two of them carefully before speaking. "Actually yes, we just received word that the ambassadors from Bosco have arrived. You both should be present for the meeting."

The King quickly turned on his heel and made his way to the throne room followed by Hisui and Boruto. Naruto just stood there and watched them leave. Why should he go to this meeting? He wasn't a member of the Court and he really didn't care about some stuffy dignitaries from a foreign country. It had been a long day and a good night's sleep seemed more appealing.

Stopping before he turned the corner Boruto looked towards Naruto with a small smile on his face. "Naruto-kun! Are you just going to stand there all night? Come on, I can't have my apprentice missing an important meeting, that would look poorly on myself."

"I never agreed to be your apprentice old man. I don't see why I should waste my time going to some boring meeting."

The defiant look on the young boy's face made Boruto chuckle. He gave Naruto a knowing look and started making his way to the castle.

Naruto stood there for a few seconds longer before he too made his way for the throne room, grumbling about arrogant old men the entire time.

* * *

Inside the Throne room sat the King on his throne with his daughter occupying the smaller throne to his left. On his right stood his trusted advisor, Boruto. On Boruto's right was his ever resistful 'apprentice'.

The only reason that Naruto was even there was because he had nothing else to do. It wasn't because he felt obligated to go because of Boruto covering his ass earlier, not at all.

An annoyed grumble escaped Naruto's mouth which received him a sharp elbow from his 'master' and a soft giggle from Hisui. The King kept an iron visage which looked comical coming from such a short man.

The doors to the chamber slowly opened and two people entered.

The first person was a young man, no older than 18 with short brown hair and a tan complexion with brown eyes. He was wearing a white full suit of armor. His breast plate was broad and clearly very thick with the way it became pointed towards the middle of his chest where a black claw sat. His fore arms were covered in the same steel plating that his chest was except his joints were covered in mesh type plating that wasn't all that different from Naruto's own mesh that he wore. His legs were covered in much the same way that his arms were except for at the points of his knees it was pointed while the back was mesh. He had a broadsword slung on his left hip and on the black sheath there was a white claw. On his back there was an obsidian shield that came to three different points. One was at the bottom and the other two came at the top left and right of the shield and formed a type of rounded triangle with a dip in between the top two points; the shield also had a white claw at the center.

The other person that entered the room was a young woman a year or two older than Naruto. She had long, flowing blonde hair that reached halfway down her back. Her face was slim and smooth and her skin was a healthy cream color. She had a voluptuous figure that was barely hidden by a loose fitting white kimono top and blue kimono pants. The kimono top itself was of an interesting design. It was large in the chest to accommodate her relatively large chest but thinned out to match her form. The front of her sleeves came down to her wrists while the back of her sleeves came down a few inches longer then her hand. At her waist the top was tucked into her blue kimono pants. Around the sides of her hips the only fabric was the blue strings of her pants that tied them in place showing a small glimpse of her legs. The pants were very loose fitting and seemed like they offered quite a bit of mobility. The edges of her sleeves had a blue flame like pattern to them while the bottom of her pants had a white like flame pattern to them. She looked over everyone in the room with her piercing blue eyes.

"I am Akira, The Priestess of the Blue Flame and he is Jeremiah, The Holy Templar. I apologize for our tardiness; we had some troubles crossing the borders. While I'm aware that the standard military of Fiore is rather… lacking, you should attempt to do something about the multitude of bandits that litter your northern border."

The King took the jab at his military in good stride; there was no reason to get bent out of shape about something like that. Perhaps if it wasn't from an allied nation but that wasn't the case here. "I do apologize if you've had some issues getting here. I'll arrange for a guild to clear up the borders at the next possible convenience. Now I know you must be tired and hungry from your trip. We've prepared your rooms and there will be a feast later this evening in honor of your arrival. We can discuss your country's issue after you both are well rested."

The expression on the priestess's face didn't change as she offered a small bow to the king. "That would be acceptable."

With that she turned from the group and exited the Throne Room. The newly named Jeremiah gave a two figured salute before quickly following after her.

* * *

The Banquet hall filled up quickly once the news that the long awaited quests had arrived. Music was playing, performers were putting on a show for all that cared to watch.

None of that interested Naruto though. He had only one thing on his mind, food. He hadn't eaten since early morning and it was well into the night. He didn't know what half of the stuff that he was eating was but he didn't care. All he did know was that it was delicious.

Hisui was sitting to the right of Naruto with wide eyes at how quickly he was disposing of his food. She couldn't understand how someone so thin could eat so much, it didn't make sense.

Sitting across from them were Akira and Jeremiah. Akira felt the same way that Hisui did when it came to Naruto's food consumption except instead of awe and wonder she felt disgust and annoyance. Though the annoyance wasn't for Naruto, no that was reserved for the man next to her who was trying to keep pace with Naruto.

"Honestly Jeremiah, must you eat like that? You would never be able to do that if you were back in the citadel."

Jeremiah stopped eating for a minute to regard the priestess. "That's exactly why I'm doing it. And that guy over there challenged me to see who could eat more; I can't afford to lose any contest with you in my presence."

Akira stared blankly at the Templar who had a stupid grin on his face. "As if I would care about something so silly, you're impossible."

The male warrior quickly resumed his assault on his food in an attempt to catch up to Naruto who had an already substantial lead. The feast continued in such a manner until a loud cough came from Boruto as he stood up from his chair next to the king.

"May I have you attention please? Tonight's feast is a special occasion for our kingdom for many reasons. The first is that today is the 25th anniversary of when our beloved King took over his father's throne. The second is that we are joined tonight by our allies of Bosco. The Priestess of the Flame and The Holy Templar of Bosco. It's truly an honor to have you both here tonight."

There were a few claps from the people presented. Akira merely ignored them in favor of watching the man speaking and Jeremiah awkwardly waved back to few that did acknowledge them.

"Why is it that we celebrate our King is such a manner? Why is it that we all obey and love our King so much? It's simple. As humans grow we search out those that are better than ourselves. We believe in those individuals and in turn those stronger than others seek out even stronger people to put their trust into."

The entire hall had become dead silent as they listened to Boruto's speech. Even Naruto was enthralled with the way the man was talking.

"A King must be greedier, a King must laugh louder, a King must fight harder, a King must be smarter, a King must be more furious than everyone else! That is exactly why we all love and adore him! Those qualities take root in the hearts of all those under him and drive us to be like our King! This is why we celebrate him, this is why we envy and adore him! We have the fire in our hearts to better ourselves to be like our King! All hail King Toma E. Fiore!"

The dining hall erupted in furious applause as Boruto finished his speech. Even Naruto was caught up in the moment and the charisma behind the speech. It was in that moment that Naruto knew that Boruto was a man he could follow, a man he could call master.

* * *

**Alright so another chapter done. I would've been done with this earlier but this last part had been fighting me for the last two weeks. I couldn't get it right. I'm not even sure that it's perfect but this is the best draft I came up with. I actually had more planned for this chapter but the current ending just jumped out at me and I was like, bam, there's my ending.**

**So read, review, tell me what you liked and didn't and all that jazz. I'll take any constructive criticism that you guys want to give and if you want to give me flames well you can do that too, a review's a review.**

**Also, the ending speech was inspired greatly by an ASMV. To be honest this entire story has been inspired by different ASMV's so if you any of you want to know what it was just ask in the review or PM me, I'll respond to all of them.**


	7. Those that Dwell in Darkness

**I'm alive!**

**Yes I know that I've been absent for such a long time and I'm truly sorry for that. Things came up and as I highly doubt that many of you care what held me up but if any of you do you can ask me in a review or send me a PM and I'll gladly respond. Just remember that this was a one-time thing (hopefully).**

**One thing to address before we get into the chapter. I just want to say that I was right! The way for a dragon slayer to truly obtain Dragon Force is to kill a dragon. I want to note that I had that written in my story long before Hiro released the chapter confirming it. I also called how Rogue and Sting killed their dragons, much the same as how Naruto killed Tatsumaki. Overall, this changes nothing about my story, it just made me real happy when I read that chapter lol.**

**The last chapter got mixed reviews about my OC's. Just remember if you have questions you have to ask them for me to answer them.**

**Quick summary to refresh you guys about my story: Naruto arrived in Earthland after the battle at the Valley of the End and was taken in by the wind dragon Tatsumaki, after his death Naruto traveled Earthland before winding up in Crocus. This is the only Naruto/FT cross over that has Naruto interacting with the Royal Family so early in the story, at least to my knowledge, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Fairy Tail and I highly doubt I ever will. I don't think I would want to own them either. Way too much work is involved in making a manga; I'll stick to fan fiction.**

* * *

(Mercurius Halls)

Naruto hated mornings. There was nothing worse than forcing oneself to wake up at the ungodly hour of five in the morning. Sure he was used to waking up early back in the Elemental Nations but he had gotten lax in that regard over the last two years. It wasn't like he slept the day away but there were limits to how early he wanted to get up.

The reason why he was up at this wretched hour was because the priestess from Bosco wanted to set out as soon as possible for her mission. Naruto had tried to talk to her the previous night at the party but she made a note not to talk to anyone other than the Templar, Boruto and the King.

The Templar was actually a decent guy; Jeremiah was his name if Naruto remembered correctly. For someone that was supposed to be the strongest in his Holy Order he seemed to be pretty laid back. He made jokes all night long and some could argue he was the life of the party. Naruto got the feeling that Jeremiah wasn't always that eccentric. He could tell that Jeremiah was going out of his way to try and rattle the stoic priestess.

Yawning; Naruto made his way to the throne room which was to be the briefing area for Bosco's problem. Upon entering the room he noticed that almost everyone was already there. Boruto was the first to notice Naruto's arrival and motioned for him to stand by him.

Naruto looked at the other people in the room and felt relieved that he wasn't the only one that was suffering from waking up so early. Jeremiah looked completely exhausted. Not very surprising considering the amount of ale he drank last night.

The priestess looked the same as she did when he first laid eyes on her. She was prim and proper and was fully awake. She seemed focused on Naruto for some reason. Her gaze was more of a curious one as to the annoyed ones he received the previous night.

Taking his place next to his new master, he couldn't help but ask, "Where's Hisui-hime? I thought she would've been here by now."

Boruto gave Naruto a sideways glace before responding to him. "Hisui-hime won't be attending. This matter is strictly for those directly involved."

Naruto gave Boruto a questioning look but didn't say anything. There had to be a reason that he was here when not even the princess was there. His master didn't seem like the man that did anything that wasn't necessary.

The King coughed loudly, getting everyone's attention and waking up Jeremiah who had managed to fall asleep while standing. "Now that young Naruto-san has joined us, let us begin. I will be honest; I was troubled when I had received word that you would be coming here asking for aid. Bosco has always handled their own affairs."

The priestess was the one that stepped forward to address the short king. "That is true, in the past we would've never bothered to invoke the old treaty between our nations. Unfortunately that is no longer an option. I will be frank with you all. Bosco is facing an immediate danger."

The reactions in the room varied. Jeremiah had dropped his tired expression for one that was far grimmer, clearly showing that even he took this topic seriously.

Naruto's master had a calculative look on his face. No doubt he was running multiple scenarios in his head to try and figure out what she could be referring to.

The King at first looked shocked and then replaced that look with a deep frown. "Tell me, Flame Priestess. What could possibly be such a large threat to Bosco? While I don't follow the political atmosphere of the world as deeply as my Minister; I do follow enough to know that things are unusually stable between the rest of the world's nations. This isn't a foreign threat, is it?"

The young woman gave a brief nod in confirmation; her face betraying nothing as she held a neutral expression. "Indeed, this is a domestic threat that we thought was long dead. For the last sixty years there have been reports about missing people on the fringes of the Dark Forest near the mountain range. For the most part, when we investigated the reports always came up inconclusive as to why those people went missing."

Taking a small breath the priestess continued. "As time passed the reports increased in number as well as the distance that people were going missing in. Eventually we stumbled upon a creature that we hadn't seen in a very long time, a vampire."

Boruto was the first to react to the startling news. "A vampire? Are you serious? They haven't been seen in over 250 years. Not since before the Grand Inquisition that _your_ Templars carried out. If I recall correctly you proclaimed that the last of the vampires had been slain."

Jeremiah looked away from everyone in the room at the Minister's hidden accusation. It was clear as day that Boruto was calling his order of Templars incompetent to have made such a claim without 100% certainty. While he wasn't around at the time he was the current head of the Holy Templars and it was his responsibility to make up for his predecessors mistakes. "As far as we knew we did exterminate them all. Somehow one managed to escape our sight. It hid for all these years, growing stronger until it didn't fear us. He's been taking random villagers from backwater villages as his victims to avoid suspicion. No one would think twice about a random villager going missing in the Dark Forest."

The King hummed to himself in thought before responding. "So a long dead monster has raised its head and is now wreaking havoc in your country? A terrible problem to be sure but I hardly see why you ask for our aid. Shouldn't your Templars and priests be sufficient in this situation? The previous orders were able to deal with countless vampires during the Grand Inquisition; surely a single one wouldn't be that much of a hassle?"

Jeremiah shook his head at the question. "Normally yes, unfortunately things are different. This vampire had been in hiding for at least 200 years. During that time we assume it was training and becoming stronger because there was no vampire this strong 250 years ago and trust me, it is _strong_."

The King became quiet at that. He was never one for the magical world and its workings, that's what he had Boruto for. While he didn't like the magical world he wasn't ignorant about it. He knew that Boruto himself was worth all of the non-mages currently at the castle. A powerful mage wasn't like a powerful knight. A powerful knight would eventually tire and fall in combat. A powerful mage could wipe out entire platoons at once with wide scale spells. You couldn't send droves of regular troops at something incredibly strong in any magical art.

"What would you ask of me?"

The question floated from the King's mouth in what seemed like a defeated sigh. It wasn't the enthusiasm that the two Bosconians were hoping for but all that mattered was his willingness to help.

Reclaiming the reins from her counterpart, Akira motioned in Boruto's direction. "We require aid in the form of a powerful mage that will be able to accompany us to The Dark Forest to destroy this threat. We would prefer Raitoningu-sama to be the mage that joins us. Even in Bosco his name is well known for his magic."

Boruto was about to speak before his apprentice cut him off. "I'm sorry but something doesn't add up here. You aren't telling us everything about this mission, are you?"

Akira turned to face the blond haired man and fixed a hard glare onto him. "I have no idea what you are talking about. As long as were on this train of thought what are you even doing here? Some no name child shouldn't be involved in something of this scale."

Boruto saw the fire in his apprentice's eyes and raised a placating hand to Naruto to stop him from starting an argument. "Trust me Akira-dono; Naruto-kun is more than qualified to be here. Being his master, I can personally attest to his power, you would do well to remember that."

The priestess didn't seem to visibly respond to Boruto's statement and continued to glare at Naruto. "Be that as it may, he knows nothing of this topic and to dare accuse me of lying about it is not only an insult to me but to the entire empire of Bosco. On what grounds do you give that accusation?"

Naruto shrugged off her glare and gave her one of his own. "On what grounds? On the grounds that I'm not stupid. I've studied vampires before. Most vampires only survive off the blood of common animals; they only take human victims when they try to grow their numbers. You say these disappearances have been happening for 60 years? Just how many vampires are we dealing with?"

The shocked look on the priestess's face would've been comical if the situation wasn't so serious. Before Akira could respond Jeremiah set a hand on her shoulder before speaking up himself. "We aren't sure the exact amount. The vampirafication process is a complex one and we don't fully understand it ourselves. We know that there are at least four vampires that we are actively hunting. Other than those four we are hoping that we won't have to kill any of the others."

The King gave the two ambassadors a confused look at that revelation. "Why would you not want to exterminate all of the vampires? It seems rather foolish to only hunt four of them if you are aware of existence of more. Won't the problem just come back 200 years from now?"

"Normally yes, but we've discovered something about that vampirafication process that changes everything. About 30 years ago we were able to capture multiple victims right after they were infected. Sadly we were unable to reverse the process and we locked the newly made vampires away. Over three decades we witnessed the horrible process of vampirafication." Before Jeremiah could continue he felt his grip on Akira shoulder weaken before it was violently removed and her aura flared briefly in anger.

"Jeremiah be silent! They don't need to know anymore! They know everything they need to know already. Anything more is just wasted breath!"

Jeremiah gave his companion a pointed look before responding. "No Akira-chan. I won't ask for aid without letting them know all of the dangers involved. We've lost too many good men because they never knew the dangers of what they were fighting. I won't send another soul to their death without warning them!"

Akira was taken aback by Jeremiah's fierce words. He never raised his voice to her; he always did whatever he could to get in her good graces. Looking into his eyes she could see why. The pain of having sent out his own men only for them to never return burned strongly in his eyes. It was clear that he would do whatever he could to not add to his already substantial guilt. Averting her gaze from his she barely let out a whisper. "Do as you like…"

Turning back to the residents of Mercurius, Jeremiah continued his explanation. "The vampirafication process has five steps. The first is the quickest and has the highest mortality rate. It only lasts for a week. The magic that the original vampire injected into its victim through a bite spreads throughout the human's body, altering everything down to the cellular level. The muscles are augmented and compacted to allow for more explosive power in a smaller frame. The bones become denser and more durable. The organs of the victim begin to shut down entirely while the Eternano container is enlarged and tainted with the vampire's magic. All of these changes in such a short amount of time cause the victim to be in an endless stream of pain. Nine out of ten of those infected die in this stage."

The King gave the young knight a troubled look and for more than one reason. The most obvious was for his explanation of the beginning stages of vampirafication. It was truly a horrible way to go, regardless if the process succeeded or not; it was the end. The other reason was because of the priestess's willingness to leave out such crucial information. One had to wonder why she was in such a hurry to depart. "That's only the first stage? Pray tell what the other four stages are."

"The first stage is also the worst stage. The rest of them are more like stabilization stages. The second phase only lasts a year. During that time the would be vampire can't use any magic and simply relies on its new found natural strength. This is because it takes roughly a year for the Eternano container to be completely corrupted."

"The third stage is where the vampire begins to use their magic. It's still weak for a few years but couple that with its already impressive physical strength and you have a very dangerous foe. Every vampire has a different type of magic. If someone who doesn't use magic is infected then they would develop true vampiric magic. For those that already have magic before the infection then they would have a vampiric variation of their original magic. This stage lasts roughly 20 years."

"The fourth stage is where the vampire's magic becomes more potent and they begin to fully stabilize. A stage four vampire is considered to be incredibly dangerous and only A-rank mages or above should attempt to fight them. This stage takes quite a while to fully set in. Right now we estimate that a vampire will spend at least 30 years in this stage."

"The last phase is where the 'fledgling' becomes a full-fledged vampire. After roughly 50 years since the infection started the vampire is at its peak. What can mark a stage 5 vampire from a stage 4 vampire are its canines in its mouth. A stage 5 vampire will have a purple coating covering the tips of its canines which shows that it's capable of infecting others. It goes without saying that a stage 5 vampire is an S-rank monster."

"The reason why we are only actively hunting four vampires is because a stage 3 or below vampire can be returned to being human if the vampire responsible for turning them is killed. Once a vampire hits stage 4 then they no longer require the vampiric magic of the original vampire to sustain them. As far as we know there are only three stage 4 vampires and one stage 5."

It was silent in the throne room as everyone absorbed the new information. Naruto didn't know what to make of it. Sure he had learned a little about vampires from Tatsumaki but never to this extent. If Naruto thought about it, it would make sense for them to know more about this than Tatsumaki. Vampires were smart during the rule of the dragons and never stepped on any toes, it wasn't until after The Great Dragon Civil War that the vampires truly came into the light of the world.

The people of Bosco had been dealing with vampires for centuries and it seemed that they were near all-out war with the race if they couldn't contain them now. It was true what they said, to destroy thy enemy one must know thy enemy.

Stroking his chin, Boruto decided to share his thoughts, "Truly fascinating information. I had no idea that the vampirafication process was so complex. Tell me, is there any other pertinent information that we should know about these vampires other than that they have one S-rank, 3 A-rank and an undetermined number of lower ranked monsters?"

Jeremiah looked towards Akira who in turn gave him a blank stare. Turning back to Boruto Jeremiah slowly nodded his head in the negative. "No, I don't believe there's anything else because we don't know anything else about them. The only other thing we know is that the four vampires we are hunting are hiding deep within the Dark Forest. There are even reports that they have some kind of base in the mountain side on the other end of the forest, though that information is from a mediocre source at best."

Closing his eyes in thought Boruto continued with his questions he had for the Templar. "What about the enemy's magic? You said that the victims will have true vampiric magic or a vampiric variation of it, well what exactly is true vampiric magic? Unlike your country, we've never had a problem with vampires before."

In her impatience, Akira decided to answer before Jeremiah could form a reasonable explanation. "It is darkness incarnate. If there was ever a definition of evil magic then it would be the magic of a vampire. Vampires feed off of the life force of other living beings, the more blood they have the stronger they become. Their very existence is a blight on Earthland. The magic itself is corrosive, let alone its destructive power. Now if there aren't any more questions may we please leave Raitoningu-sama? We have a limited time frame of where we know the vampires will be. I will not waste this opportunity!"

Boruto gave the fiery priestess a surprised look at her sudden outburst. From everything he had read about her and the way she acted last night she seemed the withdrawn, no non-sense type but now she was acting like a completely different person. "Priestess, if I may inquire, why are you in such a rush to leave? I understand that this situation is dire but to ask us to rush off to fight a dangerous enemy blindly isn't something that you can expect us to agree to. We have to know what to plan for before we leave."

Biting down on her lip so she wouldn't let something she would regret slip out she visibly tried to calm herself down. "I'm sorry but as I said we have a rare window of opportunity to destroy these monsters. They tend to move whenever we have gotten a hold of any information on their whereabouts. I do understand that I'm asking a lot but it's imperative that we move out immediately. On the way to the Dark Forest I will personally answer all of your questions about the vampires so please, let us depart."

Instead of pushing the issue Boruto held his tongue. It wouldn't do any good to make her more upset if what he planned would succeed. There was clearly a deeper reason other than the time table for her apparent desperation to leave. It would be something his new apprentice would have to deal with if everything went accordingly. "I see. I suppose that would be acceptable. Though there is one small change in the current plan that I must insist on. I am unable to accompany you on this mission. My duties do not allow me to leave the castle for such a period of time unless I'm with his majesty. In my stead, I offer my apprentice to join you. He is more than adequate for this mission."

The declaration was met with a mixed reaction from the occupants of the room. The King sat there nervously watching to see the reaction of the two foreigners. Naruto's head whipped around to stare at his new master in shock. That certainly wasn't what he had been expecting. Jeremiah went from Boruto to the mentioned Naruto with a calculative look.

Akira on the other hand was far more vocal with her opinion on the matter. "You must be joking Raitoningu-sama. I mean no disrespect towards your apprentice but he can't be more than 16. Perhaps you don't understand how dangerous these vampires are? If anyone other than you goes with us I cannot guarantee they will return. I beg you to reconsider; I would hate to see him die because you think too highly of his skills."

Naruto bristled at the backhanded comment. Who did this chick think she was? No disrespect his ass, she completely meant to degrade him in front of everyone. Before he could move forward to show her just how 'inadequate' he was, Boruto placed a hand on his chest to stop him. "I wouldn't pass judgment on my apprentice so quickly. You yourself are only 18 if memory serves. You should know that strength is not completely dependent on age. But don't take my word for it, why don't you see for yourself? An exhibition match between Naruto and one of the mages from the castle, you can witness his strength first hand."

From the un-amused stare Boruto received from the priestess he decided to sweeten the deal. "How about this, watch Naruto-kun's match and decide for yourself if he's strong enough for your mission. If he can't meet your expectations then I will drop everything and depart the moment the match ends, fair enough?"

A small smirk appeared on Akira's face after thinking over the offer. "I suppose that would be acceptable, though with one small change. I will be his opponent. I will see first-hand just how 'strong' your apprentice is. I hope he will not disappoint."

Naruto in turn stared at the flame priestess and gave her his fox like grin. "It's not me who should be worried about being the disappointment here."

* * *

(_Mercurius Magic Unit Training Grounds)_

Fiore had two main branches of military power, one was the standing army composed of veteran knights that made up the bulk of the current standing military. The other section was comprised of the magical side of warfare. The fourth division was established to understand and utilize any and all forms of magic to aid the kingdom against threats, domestic and otherwise.

The majority of the magic corps was under the direct control of the Magic Council which was located in Era. Even though the Magic Council answered to the King, he was rarely ever involved in the daily workings of it and thus they were mostly left unchecked.

There was one exception to this of course; Boruto had made sure that the castle had their own special force of mages. They were hand-picked by Boruto from the magic corps. Boruto oversaw every aspect of their training from physical conditioning to the different types of training that each individual mage would use for their type of magic.

Their training fields supported a wide variety of training equipment from obstacle courses, training dummies and large open areas for mages to spar in. The latter is where a large group of people have gathered to watch a very unusual spar. Two people that none of the current mages had ever seen before had shown up with the King, Boruto and some strange knight in tow.

The King himself was feeling quite nervous about the impeding spar between the two young mages. The reason being was if this duel went wrong he would be losing a very important asset for the foreseeable future. "Boruto, are you sure about this? This isn't what I had in mind when you said you would convince them to take your apprentice. This seems like far too large of a gamble to take."

Looking over at the distressed leader Boruto merely let out a short chuckle. "Relax my liege, while this isn't what I had in mind I think this will provide Naruto-kun with a good challenge; not to mention it will give us a grasp of where he stands."

Glaring up at his minister, Toma refused to let the issue drop. "And what if he doesn't stand anywhere near where the priestess does? You haven't seen him fight; I don't like this one bit Boruto."

Sighing at his king's persistence, he waved in the general direction of the two aforementioned mages squaring off from one another. "Look at him. Does that look like a man that isn't confident in his ability? He defeated a renegade A-class mage without receiving any injuries. That isn't a boastful cockiness of some rookie, that's the confidence of a seasoned fighter. I have no doubt that he will live up to my expectations."

Toma gave Boruto another questioning look before turning back to the two fighters. They were situated in a large open area marked for sparring matches. The field was designated by the assortment of runes surrounding the outer most regions of each 'court' to insure that any stray spells stayed within the confines of the spar. Three people were within the barrier. The first two being Naruto and Akira, the third being Jeremiah.

"You know you don't have to fight me _little_ _boy_. If you want to back out now then no one will hold it against you. It's alright to admit that you're in over your head."

"Heh, you'd like that wouldn't you? Even if I didn't want to go on this mission, there's no way I'm backing down now. Someone needs a reality check and I'm just the guy to deliver it." Seriously, this chick was on such a high horse Naruto doubted that she could see the ground. Obviously no one in her order was going to give it to her and Jeremiah seemed far too preoccupied with another aspect of her to bring her down to earth.

Looking at the two participants with a weary eye, Jeremiah raised his voice for the benefit of all those that had come to watch. "I'll be refereeing this spar. Once I call the match then that's it, you _will_ stop. If need be I'll intervene and stop the match myself. The match will continue until Akira-chan deems Naruto strong enough or too weak to accompany us. Begin!"

Akira wasted no time, the moment Jeremiah said begin she had launched herself at Naruto with the intent of ending the fight right there. Not expecting the rush from the girl, Naruto attempted to back pedal but failed miserably. Covering up his vitals as best he could Naruto received a vicious blue flame incased fist to his stomach.

Rolling with the blow Naruto jumped away from the priestess as she continued her assault. She continued chasing him as he tried to create some distance between them. Turning to face her mid stride, Naruto fell backwards on his hands while bringing both his legs up for a devastating double heel kick to her chin. Unfortunately, Akira was just as fast to respond as Naruto was to attack and raised her arms to block the fierce attack which resulted in them taking the brunt of the attack.

The attack itself knocked her back several feet which was all Naruto wanted. Taking a relaxing breath, Naruto reevaluated the woman in front of him. He had assumed that she was some pampered little girl and that her position came through birth right alone. His assumption nearly lost him the match before it had even begun. He could kick himself about his mistake later though; right now he had to figure out how to beat her.

She obviously had no quarrels with getting in close to him, if anything she preferred it. She was also incredibly fast, the same if not faster than him. Naruto didn't notice it right away but the second assault he saw it; tiny blue embers on the bottom of her feet. She was using her fire magic as a way to enhance her already impressive speed. That kind of application of one's magic wasn't for any kind of beginner, she may have a stick up her ass but she certainly wasn't weak.

"You know, that offer still stands, why don't you forfeit right now and save yourself the embarrassment of losing like this? I mean, you barely held your ground back there and that was only a warm up."

Naruto merely looked at her with an annoyed face, she was apparently a fan of talking down to her opponents. A younger Naruto might've charged head first at her taunt. Now however, he could see what she was doing. She wanted him to charge in and she would systematically tear him apart in his anger.

The way she talked down him would seem like her arrogance would be her biggest weakness but it wasn't. She was taking him with the upmost seriousness. That beginning charge wasn't a warm up, it was meant to be a finisher so he couldn't get going. Even now her guard wasn't down; her weight was shifted to the balls of her feet so she could take off at a moment's notice. "You're right, that was a nice warm up and I think it's about time to take it up a notch."

_Wind Dragon's Cyclonic Blades!"_

The three wind blades tore through the air towards the fiery mage who only raised a delicate eyebrow at the attack. Instead of dodging to the left or right she decided to go _through_ the attack by weaving her body around the deadly blades. Shifting her upper body to the right, she allowed one of the blades to barely miss her chest and then jumped while making her body go horizontal to the ground to allow the remaining two blades to pass below and above her simultaneously. Landing with a spin, she gracefully slid back into her stance and gave Naruto a confident smirk.

Ok, so she was ridiculously flexible and had the dexterity of a cat, that didn't make her any better than him. Not caring for that knowing look she was giving him Naruto opted for a small change in tactics. If small, precise attacks wouldn't cut it then maybe something a little larger in scale was in order.

"_Wind Dragon's Roar!"_

The attack was far broader then it usually was, encompassing the majority of the field in the single attack. Akira saw the attack and quickly realized that there wasn't any way to move around it. Also realizing that with this kind of attack her blue flames wouldn't do anything other than add to the destructive power of the technique she did the only viable option, she went up.

Igniting the bottom of her feet with her flames, she propelled herself above the wave of wind. The wall of wind slammed into the back of the barrier and was forced upwards, causing a massive backwind that forced the unsuspecting Akira towards Naruto.

This was exactly what Naruto wanted. Using his own magic, Naruto blasted off of the ground to meet the elemental user in the air. Not expecting Naruto to react in such a manner, Akira was completely blindsided by Naruto as he bull rushed her. Sinking his fist into her gut, Naruto used his wind magic to spin himself in the air and deliver a wind power kick to her side which sent her hurtling towards the earth.

Fighting through the pain of the attack, she righted herself mid fall and let out an enormous amount of fire to keep her in the air. Now both her arms and legs were completely covered in her scorching hot blue flames, her midsection also had the flames surrounding herself. The fire continued up her back and covered her long, blonde locks to make it seem that she was a blunette with small balls of fire falling off of the end of her hair. The only thing that wasn't covered in the flames was her face and the upper portion of her torso.

She gave Naruto a hate filled glare before charging right back at him to continue their aerial battle.

* * *

_(Mercurius Halls)_

This morning had been rather strange for Hisui. She started her morning like normal, waking up early to the sound of one of her servants entering the room. Followed by getting ready for the day and eating breakfast with her father which would lead into him informing her of what she was meant to do today.

That was where things had started to become strange. When she went to breakfast her father wasn't anywhere to be found. When she asked about it the servants merely said he was dealing with important business with the Bosconian ambassadors. It was an odd feeling for Hisui because she had never been left out of such meetings ever since her coming of age ceremony. Her father had always claimed that no matter how boring they were to her that it was imperative that she learned how to handle politicians because one day she would be in charge of their kingdom.

She had become so accustomed to attending these meetings that the thought of being excluded from one brought an uneasy feeling to the princess. This led her to right now, searching the castle for the meeting, with Arcadios in tow.

"Princess, I understand that you feel a bit put out by the fact that you weren't included in the meeting but I don't think you should be actively looking for it. I'm sure your father has his reasons."

Not even turning around to look at the knight, Hisui continued searching through the more obscure parts of the castle. "Something isn't right. They weren't in the throne room or any of the other meeting areas. No one has seen my father or Raitoningu-sama since early this morning and Naruto-san has been missing as well. Something is wrong."

Arcadios gave the princess a bemused look at her explanation. "I think I understand what the problem is. You're upset that Naruto-san is at the meeting and you aren't, isn't that right Hisui-hime?"

Arcadios's comment caused the girl to stop and face the man. Her face was flushed with embarrassment at being called out so easily. "I- That's not the reason at all! I'm just concerned about them is all. What if something happened and no one knows where they are?"

Arcadios let out a sigh at her words. She was such a horrible liar that it wasn't even funny. Before he could address her issues a loud explosion rang throughout the castle, stopping everyone in their tracks. "That sounded like it came from the magic training fields…"

Turning around, he found that Hisui had already started running to the source of the explosion, no doubt thinking that's where her father was located. Letting out another sigh Arcadios took off after the concerned girl.

* * *

(_Mercurius Magic Unit Training Grounds)_

Boruto watched as the two mages continued to exchange blows in their aerial battle. A grin had manifested itself on his face at some point during the fight but he couldn't remember when. Naruto was turning out to be everything he had expected and more. It was clear to Boruto that Naruto was at the level of the priestess, if not more so. It was hard to gauge true strength when one's life wasn't on the line after all.

The nice spar had turned into a battle a pride. Boruto could see it in the fire wielders eyes. Naruto had proven himself a dozen times over that he was strong enough to go on her mission. Now it was about showing that she was the stronger of the two.

The once neat and clean training field was now a battle worn area filled with scorched earth and destroyed vegetation; one tree in particular had caught fire during the match and was burning a magnificent bluish color.

"Well your majesty? Do you have any doubts about my apprentice now?"

The King was still looking at the battle at hand. He was always amazed when he would witness Boruto and some of the other stronger mages fight. He never could understand how people could wield such power. But to see that power being wielded by those so young… it made him a little self-conscious to say the least. "True to your word, he is a marvel to watch on the battle field. I suppose I should stop questioning you on things of this nature."

Boruto let out a good natured laugh at Toma's reaction. "Not at all my liege. Even I did not expect that Naruto-kun would be this skilled. He will be a great addition to the castle's strength. I can't wait to see what he can truly do." If the King would've been looking at Boruto he would've noticed the small glint in his eye but it went unnoticed by all present.

"Father!"

Turning away from the fight, both Toma and Boruto saw Hisui running towards them with Arcadios trailing shortly behind her. Stopping next to her father, she hunched over in an attempt to regain her breath.

Coming up behind her, Arcadios looked at the brash princess with an amused look. That's what she gets for trying to run the entire length of the castle with little to no physical conditioning. "Stand up straight and hold your arms above your head, it'll open your ribcage and allow more air to enter your lungs."

Doing as the knight instructed, Hisui quickly regained her breath and faced her father with a flushed face, from exhaustion or embarrassment, he wasn't sure. "Father, where have you been all morning? I haven't been able to locate anyone."

Toma gave his trusted advisor a knowing look. Every time something caused her normal routine to go astray she would begin to panic until things were back to normal, today was no different. "As you could have guessed, we were dealing with our friends from Bosco. We are currently in the process of concluding the negotiations."

Turning to where her father was pointing, her face blanched at what she saw. Above the fiery battle field was Naruto coated in what appeared to be the wind itself fighting what appeared to be the woman from last night covered in blue fire. Every few seconds they would clash before separating; blasts of fire and wind coming off of them and bouncing off the edges of the barrier. "Is that…Naruto-san?"

Looking up at his apprentice Boruto let a full smile reach his face. "Yes it is, he's 'proving' his worth to her at the moment. I'm sure she will approve after their little spar."

Hisui continued to stare at the battle in awe at how powerful someone her age could be given the right training. Arcadios was having a slightly different reaction. On the outside he was merely observing the battle but on the inside he was seething. He had been training since he came to this castle as a child to be the strongest knight that Fiore had ever seen. To watch two people roughly his age so clearly outclass him in power made him boil on the inside. It was evidence that no matter how hard he trained his body, no matter how many hours he spent perfecting his swordsmanship; it would never be enough to fight on a powerful mages level. There had to be something that could be done to give him some kind of edge!

A loud explosion brought Arcadios out of inner thoughts. It seemed that Naruto and the priestess had met in a rather violent collision.

Hisui's widen in fear as both fighters were covered in flames and neither seemed to leave them. "Naruto-san!"

* * *

_(Sky above the Training Fields)_

Naruto panted as he separated from Akira in another of their clashes. This was getting more and more dangerous the longer it went on. With every mid-air clash Naruto ran the risk of his wind coating catching fire and by proxy himself. If this went on any longer he would have to resort to using his _Wind Drive_ to stay afloat. None of his _jutsu's_ were any help to him in the air; his shadow clones wouldn't be able to maintain flight with the reduction in his magic reserves and the _rasengan_ was a purely melee attack and Naruto wasn't risking getting his hand burned to a crisp in some gambit to pull off a win in what was meant to be a spar.

Akira charged in again and Naruto met her head on until their respective elements forced them apart; fire and wind being forced in all directions. Naruto's control was beginning to waver and if they didn't get out of the air soon this fight was as good as done.

With that thought in mind, Naruto charged at her with all of his remaining power. She seemed surprised by the action but responded in kind and charged at him with the same amount of force. Instead of just letting their elements fight for dominance Naruto reached forward and grabbed onto the only piece of her clothing that wasn't on fire, her kimono top. Pulling himself closer with the aid of her top, Naruto took a chance and shoved his fist into her stomach and forced it upwards, straight into her diaphragm, forcing the oxygen out of her lungs. Still having the hold on her top he grabbed onto it with his other hand before attempting to throw her with all his might to the ground. In the process of that their elements hit their critical point and a large explosion rocked the entire training field.

Naruto somehow was able to maintain airborne after being blown away from the explosion. Looking in the air for his opponent, he was surprised when he didn't see her. Looking at the ground he found a bundle of flames just sitting there. It began to stir and Naruto could see that Akira was slowly pulling herself from the ground. It didn't look like the explosion itself hurt her very much but her flames couldn't absorb all of the damage that her crash landing caused.

The fire around the young woman began to swirl violently around her until the flames reformed around her arms. "You think that was enough to beat me? Oh how wrong you are Uzumaki." Raising both of her flame incased arms towards Naruto, the flames began to grow before shooting towards the blond dragon slayer.

"_Flame Elemental's Vortex!"_

The twin streams of fire merged on their way towards Naruto, forming a large vortex of blue fire that was hollow in the middle. Naruto saw the attack coming but knew that he couldn't get out of the way in time. If he took that attack there was a 50/50 chance that he wouldn't be walking away from it. Suddenly an idea jumped into Naruto's head and he let a small smirk grace his lips before he was engulfed in the vortex.

Akira smiled when she saw the blond being swallowed by her flames. He was a hell of a lot stronger then she had ever thought but even so, she needed to have Raitoningu join them on this mission, there was no room for failure. Ignoring the shouts of shock and fear from the bystanders she continued to fuel her attack until she was sure that he wouldn't be able to continue.

After a few seconds she let her attack drop. Her confident smirk was quickly replaced with a look of confusion. Instead of the smoking body of her adversary there was nothing but ash. She knew her flames were hot but there was no way she cremated him alive, was there?

Hearing a buzzing noise behind her, she looked over her shoulder to see a grinning Naruto barreling towards her with some kind of blue orb in his hand. Planting her back foot, Akira pumped her fire into the tip of her elbow and her free foot to gain speed as she spun on her planted foot to meet Naruto's attack head on. During the spin the flame on her elbow grew in size and came to a point a foot from the end of the appendage.

"_Flame Elemental's Spear!"_

"_Rasengan!"_

A large amount of dust was kicked up around the two mages when their two respective attacks went off. When the dust cleared both Naruto and Akira were surprised to see that neither of their attacks had connected. Standing in between them was Jeremiah, one hand clamped onto Akira's now fireless elbow and the other held onto Naruto's hand where his _rasengan_ was moments ago. "I think we've seen enough, don't you Akira-chan? Naruto-san is more than strong enough for what we ask. There's no point in continuing this until one of you can't stand."

Akira's face went from a look of confusion to anger in a second. "Jeremiah, who told you to get involved! This fight is far from over!"

Jeremiah fired back just as strongly as Akira. "And that's the point. He's been fighting _you_ on even ground for over half of this fight. I don't need to see any more to know that he'll be invaluable in this mission. We should be glad that we'll have someone as strong as him with us."

Pulling out her elbow from the Templar's grip she rubbed it to get some of the feeling back, his grip was strong! Turning to her fellow blond she reluctantly nodded her head. "Very well, I will concede that you have some strength and skill to go with it. If Raitoningu-sama absolutely cannot get away from the castle we will have to settle for you."

Naruto gave her a deadpan look while shaking out his own hand after giving Jeremiah a weary look. "Why thank you for the honor of being allowed to accompany you but I don't even know about this whole vampire thing. I mean I just got here yesterday and I was hoping to spend some more time with Hisui-hime before I had to head out again. I really only fought you because you needed to be brought down a peg, no offense."

Both Akira and Jeremiah gave the blond an incredulous look at how blatant his response was. Akira was the first to recover and she had no reservations about voicing her confusion. "Surely you jest, you went through that fight for the simple reason of 'bringing me down a peg'?"

Naruto gave her his trade mark grin before responding. "Well that and to see where I match up with the head of the Clergy of the Flame. I like a good challenge."

"An excellent fight Naruto-kun, though your tact is something to be desired."

Naruto turned to the voice and saw his master and the King approaching them, followed by Arcadios and the princess. "Hehe, tact has never been my strong point old man. Like what you see?"

Patting Naruto on the head Boruto gave him a bright smile. "In fact I did. I was very impressed with you, as was everyone here. Though maybe next time you shouldn't take such risks, Hisui-hime was scared to death the entire time."

The aforementioned girl's face turned beat red at having all the attention turned to her and looked down while mumbling incoherently to herself. In an effort to console the girl Naruto gave her a sheepish look and a halfhearted 'sorry'.

Coughing loudly into his hand to get everyone's attention, Toma gestured towards the castle. "If you're done embarrassing my daughter, let's return to the throne room to discuss any arrangements you need before you leave. Arcadios, please escort Hisui-hime to the stables, I'll be there shortly for our morning ride."

Shaken out of her self-induced embarrassment, she grabbed unto her father to stop him. "Wait, they just got done fighting, shouldn't they go to the infirmary or just rest? You can't really expect them to leave right away can you?"

His daughter brought up a valid point. The battle from his perspective had been quite intense. He hadn't mentioned them needing any medical attention simply because they hadn't asked for any. Toma knew that the priestess wouldn't ask for any unless she absolutely needed it and Naruto was still a mystery to him. That did beg the question, were they really alright? "Tell me, do either of you require any aid before we go any further? It would do you all well to be at your best before setting out."

Naruto gave himself a quick pat down to see if anything was out of place before giving the King a thumbs up and a grin. "Nope, I'm good. Only a few singes here and there, nothing to get worked up over."

"Likewise, nothing but a few minor cuts that will heal by tomorrow. It's not like Uzumaki-san could actually injure me if we were going all out."

Naruto watched as Akira began walking away with the rest of the group towards the throne room. Slowly he began the trip as well, silently fuming to himself. Before he got far, a hand rested on his shoulder, stopping him dead in his tracks. Turning, he saw the sheepish face of the Templar. "What is it?"

"Before we get to the throne room and decide on everything, I want to apologize for how Akira-chan has been acting. She isn't normally like this. It's just this mission…it has to go well. This mission is important to everyone in Bosco, even more so for her."

Naruto gave him a questioning look that basically said to go on. When no further comment came Naruto decided to ask anyway. "Regardless of her reasons, she's coming off as a bitch. Though maybe if I knew why she was being so touchy I might be inclined to give her some slack…"

Jeremiah just shook his head at the blonds attempt to pry information from him. "Sorry but it's not my place to say. Let's just say that Akira would rather die than let this mission fail."

Naruto nodded to Jeremiah before he started walking to the castle; wondering what could possibly make this mission more important than her life.

"She respects you."

It was a simple sentence but it stopped Naruto in his tracks. Turning around, Naruto gave the Templar a questioning gaze to ask the unspoken question.

"She respects you, your power, battle awareness, your personality. She won't ever admit it but she does respect you. Akira has always had the problem of never being able to hold back in a fight against those she respects. Somewhere along the line she saw you as a respectable fighter and began to take you seriously. That's one of the highest compliments that Akira will give now a days. It's why she was so upset with me when I ended the fight; she wanted to know who was stronger. If you give her a chance I'm sure she'll open up to you like she did to the other's she respects."

"And what about you Jeremiah-san? Does she respect you?"

Jeremiah laughed at the question. "Yes and no, she respects my strength, my personality? Not so much."

Naruto looked at him strangely before realization dawned on him. Ever since they had arrived Jeremiah had been caught by Akira starring at her. She never reprimanded him other than giving him a short glare. What Naruto had seen that Akira hadn't was the look of affection that he held for her, it wasn't a simple lust like she probably thought, and Naruto could tell it was more. "Have you confessed to her yet?

Jeremiah looked up to the sky at Naruto's question. He knew exactly what the blond was getting at. "Only a hundred times…"

The young Templar tried to make it sound like it was some kind of joke but Naruto could hear the underlying pain in his voice. There was a lot more to these two then what he expected. "Let's go catch up to the others. I'll keep what you said in mind alright?"

Nodding at the blond, Jeremiah wrapped his arm around Naruto's shoulders before walking towards the castle. "I think we'll be good friends Naruto."

* * *

_(Mercurius Garden)_

Sitting alone in front of her favorite plant sat Hisui Fiore; the princess of the powerful Fiore kingdom and the sole heir to her family. The reason why she was sitting alone in the secluded garden was simple; she didn't know what to do.

Whenever something that Hisui didn't understand came her way she always found her way back to the garden. No matter the problem, once she was in her own little world surrounded by her precious Emerald Roses she could always come up with something. Unfortunately this time was different, no matter how hard she thought, she couldn't figure out the correct course of action.

Her problem revolved around Naruto and his sudden departure. She had only met him yesterday and already he was being sent out on important missions for the kingdom. She had wanted to get to know the blond better since he was her first real friend that was her age.

The mission he was being sent on also bothered her. While she wasn't privy to anything specific she wasn't dumb. She could hear people talk and rumors spread quickly throughout the castle. Whatever the two ambassadors from Bosco wanted help with wasn't a small matter. There was even a rumor that it was so dangerous that they originally wanted Raitoningu himself to go with them. Now Naruto was slated to take his place and risk his life.

It wasn't like Naruto was weak however. She had witnessed first-hand just how strong he was. She knew that mages could become incredibly strong but the earlier spar was beyond her imagination. It was as if she was watching two elements clash with each other for dominance, it hardly seemed like the work of two humans.

That led into a whole new avenue of thought for the wayward princess. How could someone so young be so powerful? Would Naruto look down on her because she was weak? It was all too much for the young girl to take in, which was why she was at her favorite spot, trying desperately to sort everything out.

"I've only known you a day and I already know where to find you when you go missing."

Hisui was brought out of her ravine by the sound of the man that was occupying her thoughts. "Naruto-san? I thought that you would have left by now. Why are you still here?"

Naruto sat down next to the princess while looking at the beautiful roses in front of him. "Well I would have but someone never came to say goodbye. After waiting forever I decided to come to you instead. You should've seen the look on Akira-chan's face when I took off to find you."

"Akira-chan?"

Hisui didn't even try to hide the surprise in her voice at how Naruto addressed the fiery girl. It didn't make much sense considering the woman had been nothing short of unpleasant the entire time she had been here, not to mention that she tried to cook Naruto alive only two hours ago.

"Yea, she totally flipped at me when I tried calling her that once. It bothered her so much that I decided that I'm sticking with it. I'm sure she doesn't actually mind that much…I hope."

Hisui tried but failed to stifle a laugh. She could already tell that Naruto was the type of person that would do whatever he wanted, consequences be damned. If that meant purposely antagonizing someone who could burn him to a crisp for laughs then so be it.

"So mind telling me why you never came to say goodbye? I know that we haven't known each other very long but I thought you might miss me at least a little bit."

Hisui's good mood instantly vanished at the mention of Naruto's departure. "It wasn't that I won't miss you, I just don't know how to say goodbye very well. I've heard…things about this mission. Some say you're just a scape goat so my father doesn't have to risk Boruto-sama's life. They say that you might not come back."

Naruto didn't look at Hisui; instead he opted for continuing to look at the Emerald Roses in front of him; reaching out and delicately touching one of them. "I won't lie. I've been briefed on this mission and it isn't going to be easy. There's a chance that one of us might not come back. Even so, I wouldn't worry too much about me. There are a couple things I have to do before I die and nothing will stop me before I accomplish those goals, not even death itself. Have a little more faith in me, alright?"

Hisui looked at Naruto for a long time before reaching into her dress to retrieve something. After fumbling around for a bit she found what she was looking for. "Here, take this with you."

Naruto looked at the offered item with mild interest. It was a small green badge with a cherry blossom tree in the center of it with petals falling to the ground. It was heavy considering its size; it was like it was made out of emeralds or jade. "What's this?"

Smiling at Naruto she answered with what she thought was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's my faith in you. That's the symbol of the Fiore family. It is what's given to those that have earned the trust of the family of Fiore. I felt that after last night you deserved it, now I'm sure. I have faith that you'll return after completing your mission. Good luck, Naruto-kun."

Naruto didn't know what to say so he let his actions to the talking. He pulled Hisui into a quick embrace before letting her go to meet up with his ever impatient team.

* * *

_(Somewhere along the border of Bosco and Fiore)_

"Care to tell me why we strayed from the road that will take us to Bosco?"

The reason why Naruto was asking this was simple, as to his knowledge there was only one road that led from Crocus to Bosco and they had left that road hours ago. If there was a different route that they could take Naruto certainly didn't know about it. "Oi, are you going to answer me?"

Trudging through the dense foliage, Akira burned through a rather large mess of vines before extinguishing her own flames before they spread. "We aren't going to Bosco's capital; we're going directly to the source of the problem."

Naruto gave her a confused look at her confession. "I don't see how that's possible. You do know that the mountain range completely cuts off your Dark Forest and our Vulcan Forest right? Are you planning on going over the mountains to get there?"

"Of course not, that would take far too much time and energy. I plan to go under it."

Naruto stopped in his tracks at the absurd statement the priestess had made. Was that her attempt at a joke? If so it was in poor taste considering how critical she had been about this mission.

Shoving Naruto in the back to get him moving again, Jeremiah elaborated on what his companion had decided to leave out. "We don't intend to actually go under it. There's a small chamber that was built within the mountain that starts in the Dark Forest and goes all the way through the mountains to your Vulcan Forest. It was designed as a last ditch effort for our King to escape in case our country fell. Luckily, it's never been needed."

Akira gave an annoyed look over her shoulder at Jeremiah. "You know Jeremiah; you've been very forth coming with a lot of classified information. I understand that Uzumaki-san will be joining us for this mission but after that he will continue to be a member of another country's royal court. Be careful with what your reveal."

The group traveled in silence after that, the overall moral dropping significantly. Naruto could understand what Akira was saying but she should've picked a better time to address that issue with Jeremiah. While she had accepted Naruto as someone that could aid them, she was anything but friendly to the _Jinchuuriki_. She had not so subtly made it clear that she didn't trust him.

Looking up towards the sky, Akira held up her hand in a stopping gesture. "We're stopping here for the night. Tomorrow we'll reach the Vulcan Forest and hopefully make it to the base of the mountain. Jeremiah, you and Uzumaki-san will set up camp while I search the woods for suitable firewood."

Akira left the two boys the moment she had finished her orders, leaving absolutely no room for argument. Jeremiah merely sighed at her actions and began clearing out a small area for their fire. She was getting anxious, that much was clear to the holy warrior. Granted, she had real reasons for it. They had never been so close to their quarry before. By tomorrow they would walking through the proverbial lion's den.

"What's up lover boy? I'm used to seeing that frown on Akira-chan's face, not yours. If it isn't a matter of 'national security' then maybe I could help."

Jeremiah looked over at Naruto and let out a small chuckle at Naruto's joke. "That obvious huh? Sorry about before by the way. I know Akira-chan doesn't trust you but for the most part I do. You seem like the straight forward kind of guy to me, something I can relate too."

Sitting on a log that he had brought over to the newly formed fire pit, Jeremiah motioned for Naruto to take a seat next to him. "I'm worried about this mission. I've fought vampires before, killed my share as well. But this is different; we've never had to fight any of the higher ranking vampires before. This will be the last mission for us regarding the vampires. It's either we kill them all and go home or we don't make it home at all, everything is riding on this mission."

Sitting next to Jeremiah, Naruto let the words sink in for what they were worth. "I don't understand. Even if we can't find the vampires in this particular hunt I doubt your kingdom would ban you from the kingdom. What's wrong with retreating if we have to so we can regroup? You're no use to your country dead."

Jeremiah let an empty laugh escape his lips at Naruto's question. "It's not our king that imposed this on us. Akira-chan won't return to the Clergy until those four vampires are dead. If that means she dies trying then I think she would be fine with that. I promised her I would follow her wherever she went, I'm in this for the long haul, no matter what happens or where it takes me."

Naruto looked at the smiling face of Jeremiah as he said that. A new found respect for the man grew in Naruto at hearing his conviction. He was dedicated to Akira and he wouldn't back down, no matter what. It reminded him of his old self, blindly following Sakura anywhere she went and doing absolutely anything she asked. But this was different. Jeremiah wasn't doing some silly favors or random things to try and gain her favor. He was risking his life to help her accomplish a goal that was apparently more important to Akira than anything else. To him, aiding her meant more than his life, this wasn't some puppy love to him, it was the real thing.

"Does she know what she means to you?"

It was a simple question without a simple answer. "Does it really matter? She's already expressed that she doesn't want any kind of relationship; with me or anyone else. What good would it do to mess up our dynamic if she knew that I actually loved her? I'm happy with just being there for her, I'll always be there to protect her."

The two fell into a comfortable silence after that. Neither really needing to say anything else. It was a surprisingly calm night with only the sounds of the surrounding forest to fill the void. Still, Naruto needed to know more about what made Akira so obsessed with these vampires. "Jeremiah…I need to know why she's so desperate about hunting these things down. I get that they're a threat to your country and all but this isn't a normal drive to protect ones country. I've seen someone else like this before and I pray that I'm wrong about her motivations."

Jeremiah couldn't bring himself to look at Naruto, how could he? He was asking a very important and relevant question about his teammate and by proxy his mission. Understanding the mind set of ones allies is nearly as important as knowing ones enemy. If you don't understand and trust your own allies then the chances of being able to fight together and work well together become slim to none.

Even knowing all that Jeremiah couldn't answer the question. As much as he wanted to he couldn't, if he did it would be a massive betrayal to Akira. "I'm sorry Naruto-san, I can't answer that question. If Akira wants you to know then she'll tell you. I recommend not pushing the issue however, if you do she might not forgive you and that's the last thing we need if we want to make it out of this alive."

Naruto for his part took the news in stride. He hadn't really expected Jeremiah to answer his question but it was nice to receive an honest answer instead of some hastily made lie.

"I'm back. Jeremiah, would you please get out some of the rations. We will eat quickly and head to bed. I want to leave at first light tomorrow."

Naruto watched Akira as she moved towards the fire pit and put the wood she had collected into the pit. Naruto was confused because he didn't see any type of kindling before he mentally kicked himself as he saw her light the thick logs ablaze with her magic. Of course she wouldn't need any kindling with her magic.

The three sat in an awkward silence as they ate their less than savory meal. Surprisingly, it was the well-endowed girl that broke the silence. "I'm perfectly aware that I've been less than inviting while back at the castle, if I was being completely honest I would say that I don't truly feel sorry about how I acted but I'm aware that we are in a rather unique situation. It would be in all of our interests if we could get along, at least until we've completed our objective."

Naruto starred at the priestess as if she had grown a second head. Sure that was as pathetic as an apology as he'd ever heard but the mere fact that she was apologizing astounded him. Apparently Jeremiah was thinking along the same lines because he had dropped his food in favor for staring at the girl.

"What? Is it so strange that I would like to get along with those that will be fighting alongside me? I think we all understand to some degree that like it or not, we are all we have for the duration of this mission. I would rather the person that is meant to guard my back not dislike me."

Shaking himself out of shock, Naruto put down his food before regarding the powerful girl. "Apology accepted, I guess? You really need to work on your people skills if that's the best you can do for a heartfelt apology. Though if you really want me to trust you more you could tell me why you want those vampires dead so badly, and I'm not talking about that lame excuse that they're a threat to the people of your kingdom."

The glare that Akira gave Naruto for his question made him break out into a cold sweat. For someone that specialized in fire magic she could give off an icy aura. Without saying a word to Naruto she rose from her seat next to Jeremiah and made her way to the other end of the clearing where her tent was set up. Before Naruto could even try to say anything to try and salvage the situation the blazing blue fire suddenly extinguished itself, effectively ending anything Naruto was going to say.

The sound of crickets filled the forest with the fire out. A deep sigh came from Jeremiah who was still sitting on the log in the dark. "Idiot…"

* * *

**AN: Ok, there we go. Another set up chapter but things are really moving now. Again I apologize about the long absence, I doubt many of you actually care as to why I disappeared but if any of you do you can leave it in a review or send me a PM and I'll gladly explain to you why, I have some good reasons.**

**As for the manga, I personally like where it's going right now, sadly nothing can bring FT back from what happened at the GMG but this is a step in the right direction.**

**I'll try to be working on the next chapter and I definitely don't plan on being gone for such a long time again, hopefully this will be a one-time thing.**

**That's all I got for you guys so I'm signing out, got a 12 hour work day ahead of me tomorrow so I do need SOME sleep, peace out.**


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